Sprott (NYSE:SII) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Sprott Inc. (NYSE:SII) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $137.20 and last traded at $136.7220, with a volume of 54221 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $131.92.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SII has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Sprott in a report on Monday, December 29th. TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Sprott in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Sprott in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $132.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $132.00.

Sprott Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.89 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $101.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.65.

Sprott (NYSE:SII) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.06. Sprott had a net margin of 23.26% and a return on equity of 15.01%. The company had revenue of $49.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.71 million.

Sprott Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 17th. This is a positive change from Sprott’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Sprott’s payout ratio is presently 82.05%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprott

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Sprott in the second quarter valued at approximately $50,428,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Sprott in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,161,000. Invesco Ltd. acquired a new stake in Sprott in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,948,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sprott in the second quarter valued at about $28,299,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Sprott by 99.6% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 739,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,466,000 after buying an additional 369,100 shares during the last quarter. 28.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Sprott

Sprott Inc is a Toronto‐based alternative asset manager specializing in precious metals, real assets and related investment vehicles. Founded in 1981 by Eric Sprott, the firm has built a reputation for offering physically backed bullion trusts, exchange‐traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds and private managed accounts that provide exposure to gold, silver, platinum and other hard assets. Sprott’s product lineup also includes royalty and streaming strategies, which grant investors long‐term participation in mining project cash flows without direct operational risk.

In addition to its flagship physical bullion trusts, Sprott offers actively managed equity portfolios that focus on companies engaged in the exploration, development and production of precious metals.