First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $23.1667.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AG shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. HC Wainwright increased their price target on First Majestic Silver from $17.50 to $24.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded First Majestic Silver from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 16th. Finally, Cormark upgraded First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th.

First Majestic Silver Stock Performance

NYSE:AG opened at $22.01 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 157.21 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 3.38, a quick ratio of 2.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. First Majestic Silver has a 1 year low of $5.09 and a 1 year high of $27.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $18.91 and a 200-day moving average of $13.74.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Majestic Silver

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in First Majestic Silver by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 43,225,807 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $531,234,000 after purchasing an additional 10,471,543 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Majestic Silver by 14.0% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,014,859 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $258,273,000 after buying an additional 2,581,023 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,995,222 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $316,914,000 after acquiring an additional 945,067 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 38.5% in the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 18,932,368 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $232,539,000 after acquiring an additional 5,265,612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lingotto Investment Management LLP increased its position in First Majestic Silver by 2.2% during the second quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 9,964,096 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $82,403,000 after acquiring an additional 213,577 shares during the period. 27.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Majestic Silver Company Profile

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.