PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. Boosts Holdings in Pan American Silver Corp. $PAAS

PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. lifted its holdings in Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) by 385.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 186,568 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 148,098 shares during the quarter. Pan American Silver makes up approximately 2.0% of PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd.’s holdings in Pan American Silver were worth $7,228,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in Pan American Silver by 46.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,927,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $74,687,000 after buying an additional 610,832 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Pan American Silver by 20.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 305,274 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,827,000 after acquiring an additional 52,736 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pan American Silver during the third quarter worth $287,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Pan American Silver by 51.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 45,142,060 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,748,355,000 after acquiring an additional 15,405,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Pan American Silver by 48.0% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,566,501 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $97,912,000 after purchasing an additional 832,912 shares during the period. 55.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on PAAS. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Pan American Silver in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Pan American Silver from $47.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Zacks Research cut Pan American Silver from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Pan American Silver from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Pan American Silver from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.60.

Pan American Silver Price Performance

Pan American Silver stock opened at $61.50 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.69, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.65. The stock has a market cap of $25.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.62. Pan American Silver Corp. has a 12-month low of $20.55 and a 12-month high of $69.99.

Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.21. Pan American Silver had a return on equity of 16.38% and a net margin of 27.07%.The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. Pan American Silver’s revenue for the quarter was up 44.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Pan American Silver Corp. will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pan American Silver Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. This is an increase from Pan American Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. Pan American Silver’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.80%.

Pan American Silver Company Profile

Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE: PAAS) is a Vancouver-based mining company and one of the world’s largest primary silver producers. The company’s core activities encompass the exploration, development, extraction and processing of silver, with significant by-product production of gold, zinc and lead. Pan American Silver maintains a vertically integrated operating model, covering the full mining value chain from resource discovery through to refined metal production.

With a geographic footprint concentrated across the Americas, Pan American Silver operates multiple mines in Mexico, Peru, Argentina and Bolivia, and is advancing several development and exploration projects in Chile and Ecuador.