Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS) Sees Large Volume Increase – Should You Buy?

Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday . Approximately 10,643,483 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 70% from the previous session’s volume of 6,246,955 shares.The stock last traded at $52.64 and had previously closed at $51.92.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on PAAS. Bank of America reduced their target price on Pan American Silver from $77.00 to $69.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Pan American Silver in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. TD Cowen upgraded Pan American Silver from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $67.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Pan American Silver from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Pan American Silver from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.43.

Pan American Silver Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $46.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.75. The company has a market capitalization of $21.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.93, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.94, a quick ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. Pan American Silver had a net margin of 32.04% and a return on equity of 20.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 38.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.43 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Pan American Silver Corp. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pan American Silver Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 24th will be issued a $0.184 dividend. This represents a $0.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 24th. This is an increase from Pan American Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Pan American Silver’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pan American Silver

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Pan American Silver by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,465,779 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $905,513,000 after buying an additional 274,168 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Pan American Silver by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,898,397 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $383,365,000 after purchasing an additional 882,135 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Pan American Silver during the 2nd quarter valued at $375,948,000. FIL Ltd raised its position in Pan American Silver by 154.7% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,307,777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $378,872,000 after purchasing an additional 4,438,478 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Pan American Silver in the 4th quarter worth $303,611,000. 55.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.