Short Interest in Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM) Declines By 16.9%

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM) (TSE:AEM) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of January. As of January 30th, there was short interest totaling 4,829,239 shares, a decline of 16.9% from the January 15th total of 5,814,683 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,532,079 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,532,079 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Agnico Eagle Mines Stock Performance

NYSE AEM traded up $7.84 on Wednesday, reaching $220.80. 2,004,673 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,951,293. The company has a current ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Agnico Eagle Mines has a one year low of $92.11 and a one year high of $225.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $191.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $169.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.63 billion, a PE ratio of 24.81, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.63.

Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) (TSE:AEM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The mining company reported $2.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.56 by $0.13. Agnico Eagle Mines had a return on equity of 18.53% and a net margin of 37.47%.The company had revenue of $3.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 60.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Agnico Eagle Mines will post 4.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agnico Eagle Mines Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from Agnico Eagle Mines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Agnico Eagle Mines’s payout ratio is 20.27%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Agnico Eagle Mines

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AEM. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Agnico Eagle Mines in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,367,783,000. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 20.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 20,765,804 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $3,497,470,000 after buying an additional 3,462,968 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Agnico Eagle Mines by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,225,477 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $2,920,258,000 after acquiring an additional 3,062,705 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Agnico Eagle Mines by 38.8% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,296,796 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $987,398,000 after buying an additional 2,319,131 shares during the period. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 48.3% during the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,528,022 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $538,506,000 after acquiring an additional 1,474,385 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AEM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Agnico Eagle Mines from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from $248.00 to $235.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from $198.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a $296.00 target price on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $234.91.

Agnico Eagle Mines Company Profile

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE: AEM) is a Canadian-based senior gold producer headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company is principally engaged in the exploration, development, production and reclamation of gold-bearing properties. Agnico Eagle pursues both greenfield and brownfield exploration to expand its resource base and operates a portfolio of producing mines and development projects to generate long-life gold production.

Its core business activities span the full mining lifecycle: grassroots and advanced-stage exploration, prefeasibility and feasibility studies, mine construction, underground and open-pit mining, ore processing and metal recovery, and post-mining reclamation and closure.