Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $55.81, but opened at $52.95. Pan American Silver shares last traded at $52.43, with a volume of 2,065,697 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on PAAS. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Pan American Silver from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Pan American Silver from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Zacks Research lowered shares of Pan American Silver from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 31st. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Pan American Silver from $47.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Pan American Silver from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, February 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.60.

Pan American Silver Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.52. The company has a current ratio of 2.69, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market cap of $21.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.81, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 0.62.

Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.11 billion. Pan American Silver had a return on equity of 16.38% and a net margin of 27.07%.Pan American Silver’s revenue for the quarter was up 44.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Pan American Silver Corp. will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Pan American Silver Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is an increase from Pan American Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. Pan American Silver’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.80%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pan American Silver

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PAAS. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pan American Silver by 151.8% during the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 642 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares during the period. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Pan American Silver in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in Pan American Silver in the third quarter worth about $36,000. City State Bank raised its position in Pan American Silver by 74.4% in the third quarter. City State Bank now owns 1,020 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Pan American Silver by 93.6% during the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,028 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.43% of the company’s stock.

About Pan American Silver

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.