Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Invests $21.88 Million in First Majestic Silver Corp. $AG

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,289,900 shares of the mining company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,879,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in First Majestic Silver by 77.4% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 604,186 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $4,042,000 after purchasing an additional 263,688 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in First Majestic Silver by 355.7% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,193,589 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $7,985,000 after buying an additional 931,690 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in First Majestic Silver by 12.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 240,083 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,994,000 after buying an additional 26,553 shares during the period. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 25.3% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 28,837 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 5,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 12.8% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 25,940 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $215,000 after buying an additional 2,936 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on AG shares. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on First Majestic Silver from $23.00 to $22.50 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen cut First Majestic Silver from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. HC Wainwright raised their price target on First Majestic Silver from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings cut First Majestic Silver from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, ATB Cormark Capital Markets upgraded First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.83.

First Majestic Silver Stock Performance

Shares of AG stock opened at $20.81 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $17.68 and a 200 day moving average of $20.35. First Majestic Silver Corp. has a 52 week low of $8.90 and a 52 week high of $32.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.31 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The mining company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $415.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $496.00 million. First Majestic Silver had a net margin of 21.18% and a return on equity of 13.36%. The business’s revenue was up 57.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.11 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that First Majestic Silver Corp. will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current year.

First Majestic Silver Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.0152 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. First Majestic Silver’s payout ratio is presently 8.45%.

First Majestic Silver Company Profile

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.