First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) shares gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $18.72, but opened at $17.67. First Majestic Silver shares last traded at $17.1480, with a volume of 11,003,838 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Securities upgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Cormark upgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of First Majestic Silver from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, National Bankshares set a $22.00 price objective on First Majestic Silver and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, First Majestic Silver has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.33.

First Majestic Silver Stock Down 0.3%

The company has a market cap of $8.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 127.77 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.38 and a quick ratio of 2.96. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $14.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.69.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The mining company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by ($0.04). First Majestic Silver had a return on equity of 3.14% and a net margin of 7.07%.The business had revenue of $285.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $429.78 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.09) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 95.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that First Majestic Silver Corp. will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th were paid a $0.0052 dividend. This is a boost from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. First Majestic Silver’s payout ratio is presently 14.29%.

Institutional Trading of First Majestic Silver

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AG. Aventura Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in First Majestic Silver during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Majestic Silver during the fourth quarter worth $1,514,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL lifted its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 891.5% during the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 244,740 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $3,008,000 after acquiring an additional 220,056 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 92.0% during the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 21,538 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $265,000 after acquiring an additional 10,318 shares during the period. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. bought a new position in First Majestic Silver in the third quarter valued at about $318,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

First Majestic Silver Company Profile

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) engages in the production of silver from its wholly owned operations in Mexico. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, the company focuses on acquiring, developing and operating high-grade silver projects. Established in 2002, First Majestic has built a multi-mine portfolio to supply silver primarily for the global industrial and investment markets while generating by-products such as gold, lead and zinc concentrates.

First Majestic’s principal operations are located in the historic Mexican Silver Belt, with producing mines including La Encantada in Coahuila, Santa Elena in Sonora and La Parrilla in Durango.