Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Pan American Silver Call Options (NYSE:PAAS)

Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors acquired 35,322 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 68% compared to the typical daily volume of 21,022 call options.

Pan American Silver Price Performance

Pan American Silver stock opened at $64.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $27.15 billion, a PE ratio of 37.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $50.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.22. Pan American Silver has a one year low of $20.55 and a one year high of $69.99.

Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The basic materials company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.01). Pan American Silver had a net margin of 19.52% and a return on equity of 11.66%. The company had revenue of $854.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $867.76 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Pan American Silver will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 24th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Pan American Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Pan American Silver’s payout ratio is 32.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on PAAS shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Pan American Silver from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Pan American Silver from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Scotiabank upped their target price on Pan American Silver from $47.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Pan American Silver in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Pan American Silver from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Pan American Silver presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.83.

Institutional Trading of Pan American Silver

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its stake in Pan American Silver by 2,666.0% in the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 610,203 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,588,000 after acquiring an additional 588,142 shares during the last quarter. Fiscal Wisdom Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Pan American Silver in the 4th quarter valued at $223,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Pan American Silver by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 224,276 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,643,000 after purchasing an additional 12,008 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its stake in shares of Pan American Silver by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 2,225,237 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $115,290,000 after purchasing an additional 69,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BCS Private Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Pan American Silver during the 4th quarter worth $518,000. 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.