A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMRK) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMRK) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,700,000 shares, a decline of 20.9% from the December 15th total of 2,150,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 278,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.1 days.

A-Mark Precious Metals Price Performance

Shares of AMRK stock opened at $27.28 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $28.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.26. The stock has a market cap of $632.35 million, a PE ratio of 11.61 and a beta of -0.01. A-Mark Precious Metals has a 52-week low of $24.22 and a 52-week high of $47.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 1.66.

A-Mark Precious Metals Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, January 14th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. A-Mark Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. 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 research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised A-Mark Precious Metals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.33.

Institutional Trading of A-Mark Precious Metals

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in A-Mark Precious Metals by 3.5% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 36,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,178,000 after purchasing an additional 1,222 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of A-Mark Precious Metals by 359.3% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 82,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,657,000 after buying an additional 64,221 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in A-Mark Precious Metals during the 2nd quarter worth $349,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in A-Mark Precious Metals by 75.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 70,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,284,000 after acquiring an additional 30,373 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empyrean Capital Partners LP bought a new position in shares of A-Mark Precious Metals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,618,000. 75.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

A-Mark Precious Metals Company Profile

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.