First Majestic Silver Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:AG)

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 38,034 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 143% compared to the typical volume of 15,621 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Majestic Silver

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in First Majestic Silver by 6,929.4% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 5,174,889 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $30,406,000 after acquiring an additional 5,101,271 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in First Majestic Silver by 5.1% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 31,876,555 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $187,433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534,710 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of First Majestic Silver during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,904,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in First Majestic Silver by 145.4% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 424,917 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $2,499,000 after purchasing an additional 251,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in First Majestic Silver during the first quarter valued at about $1,373,000. 27.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on AG shares. Cormark upgraded First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $8.50 target price on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research note on Friday.

First Majestic Silver Price Performance

AG stock traded up $0.85 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $7.18. 10,329,126 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,041,775. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $5.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a PE ratio of -42.31 and a beta of 1.36. First Majestic Silver has a 52 week low of $4.17 and a 52 week high of $8.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 3.05 and a quick ratio of 2.44.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The mining company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $136.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $129.74 million. First Majestic Silver had a negative net margin of 15.37% and a negative return on equity of 4.39%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.02) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that First Majestic Silver will post -0.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Majestic Silver Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $0.0046 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.26%. First Majestic Silver’s payout ratio is -6.25%.

About First Majestic Silver

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.