First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) shares gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $5.54, but opened at $5.77. First Majestic Silver shares last traded at $5.89, with a volume of 1,611,126 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank dropped their price target on First Majestic Silver from $6.50 to $6.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 target price on shares of First Majestic Silver in a report on Friday, January 10th.

First Majestic Silver Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $5.85 and a 200 day moving average of $6.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 3.03 and a quick ratio of 2.45. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.11 and a beta of 1.25.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The mining company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.12). First Majestic Silver had a negative net margin of 14.89% and a negative return on equity of 4.19%. The business had revenue of $146.09 million for the quarter. On average, equities analysts predict that First Majestic Silver Corp. will post -0.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.0048 per share. This is a boost from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. First Majestic Silver’s payout ratio is currently -7.41%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in First Majestic Silver by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 28,912,989 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $173,478,000 after acquiring an additional 764,790 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in First Majestic Silver in the second quarter worth $3,904,000. Barclays PLC acquired a new stake in First Majestic Silver during the third quarter worth $2,419,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of First Majestic Silver in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,057,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of First Majestic Silver by 1,510.1% during the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 271,748 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,630,000 after acquiring an additional 254,870 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

About First Majestic Silver

First Majestic Silver Corp. engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of mineral properties with a focus on silver and gold production in North America. Its projects include the San Dimas mine covering an area of approximately 71,867 hectares located in Durango State, Mexico; the Santa Elena that covers an area of approximately 102,244 hectares located in Sonora State, México; and the La Encantada covering an area of approximately 4,076 hectares located in Coahuila State, México.