A-Mark Precious Metals (NASDAQ:AMRK) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of A-Mark Precious Metals (NASDAQ:AMRK) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Friday.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on AMRK. B. Riley reduced their price objective on shares of A-Mark Precious Metals from $41.00 to $33.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of A-Mark Precious Metals from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th.

A-Mark Precious Metals Stock Performance

Shares of AMRK opened at $40.12 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $31.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.25. A-Mark Precious Metals has a 52 week low of $23.14 and a 52 week high of $42.48. The company has a market capitalization of $916.94 million, a PE ratio of 8.90 and a beta of 0.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 1.86.

A-Mark Precious Metals (NASDAQ:AMRK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by ($0.33). A-Mark Precious Metals had a net margin of 1.10% and a return on equity of 26.90%. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.25 billion. Research analysts expect that A-Mark Precious Metals will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A-Mark Precious Metals Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 16th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 15th. A-Mark Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is 17.74%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gregory N. Roberts sold 8,696 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.30, for a total value of $220,008.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 28,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,510.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Michael R. Wittmeyer sold 22,558 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.29, for a total value of $593,049.82. Following the sale, the director now owns 408,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,732,235.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gregory N. Roberts sold 8,696 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.30, for a total transaction of $220,008.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 28,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $713,510.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 53,637 shares of company stock worth $1,396,360. 23.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A-Mark Precious Metals

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in A-Mark Precious Metals by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,684,735 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,413,000 after acquiring an additional 150,343 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in A-Mark Precious Metals by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,129,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,178,000 after acquiring an additional 106,842 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in A-Mark Precious Metals by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,032,940 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,296,000 after acquiring an additional 6,184 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in A-Mark Precious Metals by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 452,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,681,000 after purchasing an additional 67,452 shares during the period. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in A-Mark Precious Metals by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 424,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,828,000 after purchasing an additional 5,437 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.25% of the company’s stock.

About A-Mark Precious Metals

A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a precious metals trading company. It operates through three segments: Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services, Direct-to-Consumer, and Secured Lending. The Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services segment sells gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in the form of bars, plates, powders, wafers, grains, ingots, and coins.