Pan American Silver Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:PAAS)

Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors purchased 35,322 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 68% compared to the typical volume of 21,022 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pan American Silver

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PAAS. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Pan American Silver by 51.8% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 15,405,762 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Pan American Silver by 21.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,191,611 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $666,192,000 after purchasing an additional 3,006,055 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Pan American Silver by 38.7% during the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 14,462,912 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $560,149,000 after purchasing an additional 4,037,311 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Pan American Silver by 9.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,898,397 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $383,365,000 after buying an additional 882,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Pan American Silver by 5,674.3% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,141,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $174,406,000 after buying an additional 6,034,755 shares in the last quarter. 55.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Pan American Silver Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of PAAS traded up $0.38 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $64.88. The company had a trading volume of 13,210,186 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,802,998. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.73. Pan American Silver has a 1-year low of $20.55 and a 1-year high of $69.99. The stock has a market cap of $27.37 billion, a PE ratio of 37.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.67.

Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.01). Pan American Silver had a net margin of 19.52% and a return on equity of 11.66%. The firm had revenue of $854.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $867.76 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Pan American Silver will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pan American Silver Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 24th were given a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. This is an increase from Pan American Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Pan American Silver’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Pan American Silver in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Pan American Silver from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Pan American Silver from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Zacks Research lowered Pan American Silver from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Pan American Silver from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.83.

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.