Sprott (NYSE:SII) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sprott (NYSE:SII) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Saturday.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Sprott in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Sprott in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised Sprott from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $132.00.

Sprott Trading Up 10.3%

NYSE:SII opened at $144.23 on Friday. Sprott has a twelve month low of $39.33 and a twelve month high of $144.36. The company has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a PE ratio of 55.47 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50 day moving average is $113.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $91.30.

Sprott (NYSE:SII) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $61.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $69.12 million. Sprott had a net margin of 23.26% and a return on equity of 15.01%.

Sprott Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Sprott’s dividend payout ratio is 82.05%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of SII. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Sprott during the 2nd quarter worth about $50,428,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Sprott during the second quarter worth approximately $40,161,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Sprott by 88.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 991,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,101,000 after purchasing an additional 464,177 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Sprott in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,948,000. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sprott in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,299,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Sprott Company Profile

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.