First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) have been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $25.00.

AG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research raised First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. HC Wainwright upped their price target on First Majestic Silver to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded First Majestic Silver from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on First Majestic Silver from $12.50 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Majestic Silver

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sprott Inc. raised its position in First Majestic Silver by 51.8% in the third quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 2,036,679 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $24,974,000 after purchasing an additional 695,391 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in shares of First Majestic Silver during the third quarter worth $55,071,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 4.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,050,155 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $221,657,000 after buying an additional 739,315 shares in the last quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Allianz Polska S.A. grew its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 120.8% in the third quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Allianz Polska S.A. now owns 93,600 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,150,000 after buying an additional 51,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Majestic Silver by 1,216.2% in the 2nd quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 340,695 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $2,818,000 after buying an additional 314,811 shares during the period. 27.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Majestic Silver Stock Performance

First Majestic Silver stock opened at $20.65 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.62. First Majestic Silver has a 1-year low of $5.18 and a 1-year high of $32.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.38 and a quick ratio of 2.96. The stock has a market cap of $10.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.99 and a beta of 0.75.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.03. First Majestic Silver had a net margin of 13.12% and a return on equity of 7.41%. The firm had revenue of $463.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $561.30 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.03 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 169.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that First Majestic Silver will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.0083 per share. This is a boost from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $0.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. First Majestic Silver’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.57%.

About First Majestic Silver

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) engages in the production of silver from its wholly owned operations in Mexico. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, the company focuses on acquiring, developing and operating high-grade silver projects. Established in 2002, First Majestic has built a multi-mine portfolio to supply silver primarily for the global industrial and investment markets while generating by-products such as gold, lead and zinc concentrates.

First Majestic’s principal operations are located in the historic Mexican Silver Belt, with producing mines including La Encantada in Coahuila, Santa Elena in Sonora and La Parrilla in Durango.