Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases 2,328,306 Shares of Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE:PAAS)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 39,512,808 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 2,328,306 shares during the quarter. Pan American Silver makes up 0.9% of Van ECK Associates Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 0.11% of Pan American Silver worth $824,632,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in Pan American Silver by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 96,027 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,448,000 after buying an additional 8,504 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Pan American Silver by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 47,330 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $714,000 after purchasing an additional 1,336 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. raised its stake in Pan American Silver by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 25,594 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 3,094 shares during the last quarter. Fore Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Pan American Silver in the 1st quarter worth $256,000. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pan American Silver by 11.6% during the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 247,676 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,735,000 after purchasing an additional 25,835 shares during the period. 55.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Pan American Silver Price Performance

Shares of PAAS stock opened at $22.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.04. Pan American Silver Corp. has a one year low of $12.16 and a one year high of $26.05. The firm has a market cap of $8.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -58.95 and a beta of 1.33.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.04). The firm 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.04 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Pan American Silver Corp. will post 0.66 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Pan American Silver’s payout ratio is -102.56%.

Pan American Silver 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.