A-Mark Precious Metals (NASDAQ:AMRK) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of A-Mark Precious Metals (NASDAQ:AMRK) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Friday.

Separately, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of A-Mark Precious Metals from $52.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.33.

A-Mark Precious Metals Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of A-Mark Precious Metals stock opened at $30.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.49. The stock has a market cap of $700.73 million, a P/E ratio of 12.66 and a beta of -0.01. A-Mark Precious Metals has a 1-year low of $24.22 and a 1-year high of $47.39.

A-Mark Precious Metals (NASDAQ:AMRK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.59). A-Mark Precious Metals had a return on equity of 10.93% and a net margin of 0.57%. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.64 billion. Analysts predict that A-Mark Precious Metals will post 3.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

A-Mark Precious Metals Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 8th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 8th. A-Mark Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Gregory N. Roberts sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.44, for a total value of $999,680.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 28,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,281,498.88. This trade represents a 43.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael R. Wittmeyer sold 10,975 shares of A-Mark Precious Metals stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.30, for a total transaction of $475,217.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 292,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,666,765.50. This represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 110,316 shares of company stock worth $4,911,036 over the last three months. Company insiders own 48.64% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A-Mark Precious Metals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AMRK. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in A-Mark Precious Metals by 349.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 28,536 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,259,000 after purchasing an additional 22,181 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in A-Mark Precious Metals during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of A-Mark Precious Metals by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 431,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,072,000 after buying an additional 22,087 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of A-Mark Precious Metals in the 3rd quarter valued at $418,000. Finally, Epacria Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of A-Mark Precious Metals by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter. Epacria Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $733,000 after buying an additional 3,955 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.25% of the company’s stock.

About A-Mark Precious Metals

A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a precious metals trading company. It operates through three segments: Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services, Direct-to-Consumer, and Secured Lending. The Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services segment sells gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in the form of bars, plates, powders, wafers, grains, ingots, and coins.