Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG)

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 91,398 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 40% compared to the typical volume of 65,068 call options.

Institutional Trading of First Majestic Silver

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bogart Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Majestic Silver in the third quarter worth $28,000. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in First Majestic Silver in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in First Majestic Silver by 29,900.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 2,990 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in First Majestic Silver by 57.2% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,114 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 1,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 3,898 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 971 shares during the last quarter. 27.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First Majestic Silver Price Performance

NYSE:AG traded down $0.72 on Monday, reaching $16.70. The stock had a trading volume of 23,136,153 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,862,291. The company has a quick ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 3.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $8.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 119.27 and a beta of 0.84. First Majestic Silver has a 1-year low of $5.09 and a 1-year high of $17.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $13.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.18.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The mining company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by ($0.04). First Majestic Silver had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 3.14%. The business had revenue of $285.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $429.78 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.09) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 95.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that First Majestic Silver will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a $0.0052 dividend. This is a positive change from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. First Majestic Silver’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on AG shares. TD Securities upgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 16th. HC Wainwright set a $17.50 target price on shares of First Majestic Silver in a report on Friday, October 10th. Cormark raised First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, First Majestic Silver currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.33.

About First Majestic Silver

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) engages in the production of silver from its wholly owned operations in Mexico. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, the company focuses on acquiring, developing and operating high-grade silver projects. Established in 2002, First Majestic has built a multi-mine portfolio to supply silver primarily for the global industrial and investment markets while generating by-products such as gold, lead and zinc concentrates.

First Majestic’s principal operations are located in the historic Mexican Silver Belt, with producing mines including La Encantada in Coahuila, Santa Elena in Sonora and La Parrilla in Durango.