Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $55.51, but opened at $53.25. Pan American Silver shares last traded at $52.1630, with a volume of 2,281,750 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on PAAS shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Pan American Silver from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Pan American Silver in a research note on Sunday, December 7th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Pan American Silver from $36.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Pan American Silver in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Pan American Silver from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.33.

Pan American Silver Trading Down 0.4%

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.42 billion, a PE ratio of 30.70, a PEG ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.55.

Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.01). Pan American Silver had a return on equity of 11.66% and a net margin of 19.52%.The company had revenue of $854.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $867.76 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Pan American Silver Corp. will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Pan American Silver Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 24th were paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 24th. This is a boost from Pan American Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Pan American Silver’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.37%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pan American Silver

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PAAS. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Pan American Silver by 51.8% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 45,142,060 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,748,355,000 after acquiring an additional 15,405,762 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Pan American Silver by 5,674.3% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,141,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $174,406,000 after purchasing an additional 6,034,755 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Pan American Silver during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $155,281,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Pan American Silver during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $178,004,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Pan American Silver by 38.7% in the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 14,462,912 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $560,149,000 after buying an additional 4,037,311 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.