Spark Investment Management LLC Acquires New Shares in Sprott Inc. $SII

Spark Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sprott Inc. (NYSE:SII) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 8,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $665,000. Sprott accounts for about 1.7% of Spark Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Sprott by 7.3% during the third quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 3,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Sprott by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 15,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,056,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Sprott by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 19,921 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,654,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in shares of Sprott in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Sprott by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 8,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Sprott Trading Down 1.5%

NYSE:SII opened at $162.31 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.43 and a beta of 0.94. Sprott Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.33 and a 12 month high of $167.47. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $120.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.74.

Sprott (NYSE:SII) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.58. Sprott had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 23.62%.The firm had revenue of $61.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $69.12 million.

Sprott Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. Sprott’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SII. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Sprott in a research report on Monday, December 29th. TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Sprott in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sprott from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of Sprott from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $132.00.

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.