Short Interest in Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (NYSE:FSM) Expands By 21.2%

Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (NYSE:FSM) (TSE:FVI) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,510,000 shares, a growth of 21.2% from the January 31st total of 12,800,000 shares. Currently, 5.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 11,620,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. CIBC downgraded shares of Fortuna Silver Mines from a “neutral” rating to a “sector underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Cibc World Mkts cut Fortuna Silver Mines from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on Fortuna Silver Mines from $6.75 to $6.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortuna Silver Mines

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FSM. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Fortuna Silver Mines by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,402,119 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,043,000 after acquiring an additional 796,364 shares in the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortuna Silver Mines by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 8,340,195 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,779,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,864 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortuna Silver Mines by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 7,542,803 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,359,000 after purchasing an additional 2,165,430 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortuna Silver Mines by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,038,830 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,625,000 after purchasing an additional 668,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in Fortuna Silver Mines by 224.6% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 4,720,375 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,240,000 after buying an additional 3,266,096 shares in the last quarter. 33.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortuna Silver Mines Stock Up 3.9 %

Shares of FSM traded up $0.18 during trading on Thursday, reaching $4.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 21,003,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,187,441. The company has a fifty day moving average of $4.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.71. Fortuna Silver Mines has a twelve month low of $2.93 and a twelve month high of $6.36. The company has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.82 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Fortuna Silver Mines (NYSE:FSM) (TSE:FVI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.09). Fortuna Silver Mines had a net margin of 2.45% and a return on equity of 10.08%. The business had revenue of $302.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $301.65 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Fortuna Silver Mines will post 0.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortuna Silver Mines Company Profile

Fortuna Mining Corp. engages in the precious and base metal mining in Argentina, Burkina Faso, Mexico, Peru, and Côte d’Ivoire. It operates through Mansfield, Sanu, Sango, Cuzcatlan, Bateas, and Corporate segments. The company primarily explores for silver, lead, zinc, and gold. Its flagship project is the Séguéla gold mine, which consists of approximately 62,000 hectares and is located in the Worodougou Region of the Woroba District, Côte d’Ivoire.