Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS)

Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 24,280 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 225% compared to the average volume of 7,480 call options.

Pan American Silver Stock Performance

PAAS opened at $25.85 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 2.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $9.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -66.28 and a beta of 1.35. Pan American Silver has a 52-week low of $12.16 and a 52-week high of $26.05. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.70.

Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The basic materials company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $686.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $696.08 million. Pan American Silver had a negative net margin of 5.54% and a positive return on equity of 0.66%. Pan American Silver’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.04 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Pan American Silver will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pan American Silver Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Pan American Silver’s payout ratio is currently -102.56%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PAAS. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Pan American Silver from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Pan American Silver from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Pan American Silver from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, CIBC upped their price objective on shares of Pan American Silver from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $24.93.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pan American Silver

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PAAS. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Pan American Silver during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC increased its position in shares of Pan American Silver by 943.4% during the second quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 1,659 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Pan American Silver by 76.9% during the first quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Pan American Silver by 31.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,124 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its stake in Pan American Silver by 73.3% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 5,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. 55.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Pan American Silver Company Profile

Pan American Silver Corp. engages in the exploration, mine development, extraction, processing, refining, and reclamation of silver, gold, zinc, lead, and copper mines in Canada, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. The company was formerly known as Pan American Minerals Corp. and changed its name to Pan American Silver Corp.