First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 28,420,000 shares, an increase of 14.3% from the September 15th total of 24,860,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,220,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Institutional Trading of First Majestic Silver

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake 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 buying an additional 1,534,710 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in First Majestic Silver by 1.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,451,621 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $61,456,000 after purchasing an additional 186,570 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in First Majestic Silver by 6,929.4% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 5,174,889 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $30,406,000 after purchasing an additional 5,101,271 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in First Majestic Silver by 3.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,158,908 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $18,701,000 after purchasing an additional 103,232 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in First Majestic Silver by 0.8% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 774,530 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $4,585,000 after purchasing an additional 5,868 shares during the last quarter. 27.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AG has been the topic of several research reports. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $8.50 price objective on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Cormark upgraded First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th.

First Majestic Silver Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of AG stock traded down $0.08 on Wednesday, hitting $6.51. The stock had a trading volume of 7,608,591 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,022,067. 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 quick ratio of 2.44 and a current ratio of 3.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -41.22 and a beta of 1.36. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $5.79 and its 200-day moving average is $6.36.

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

First Majestic Silver Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a $0.0046 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $0.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.28%. First Majestic Silver’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -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.