Principal Securities Inc. Acquires 5,000 Shares of First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG)

Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) by 30.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,500 shares of the mining company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in First Majestic Silver were worth $118,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AG. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in First Majestic Silver by 2.7% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 28,912,989 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $173,478,000 after purchasing an additional 764,790 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of First Majestic Silver by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 5,780,689 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $34,684,000 after buying an additional 99,640 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of First Majestic Silver by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 683,627 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $4,102,000 after buying an additional 104,092 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 17.7% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 558,096 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $3,349,000 after buying an additional 83,867 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Realta Investment Advisors increased its holdings in First Majestic Silver by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 497,726 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $2,882,000 after buying an additional 71,456 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on AG. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $11.00 price target on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research note on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on First Majestic Silver from $6.50 to $6.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th.

First Majestic Silver Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of First Majestic Silver stock opened at $5.47 on Wednesday. First Majestic Silver Corp. has a 1 year low of $4.37 and a 1 year high of $8.44. The company has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.61 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.56 and a quick ratio of 2.12.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The mining company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.02). First Majestic Silver had a negative return on equity of 3.07% and a negative net margin of 18.17%. The company had revenue of $172.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $227.77 million. Research analysts forecast that First Majestic Silver Corp. will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.0057 dividend. This is an increase from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. First Majestic Silver’s dividend payout ratio is presently -5.71%.

First Majestic Silver Company Profile

First Majestic Silver Corp. engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of mineral properties with a focus on silver and gold production in North America. Its projects include the San Dimas mine covering an area of approximately 71,867 hectares located in Durango State, Mexico; the Santa Elena that covers an area of approximately 102,244 hectares located in Sonora State, México; and the La Encantada covering an area of approximately 4,076 hectares located in Coahuila State, México.