A-Mark Precious Metals (NASDAQ:AMRK) Shares Down 3.5% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• A-Mark Precious Metals' shares fell by 3.5% to a trading price of $26.73, with a significant drop in trading volume, down 35% from its daily average.
• The company received multiple analyst upgrades, with Zacks Research boosting its rating to strong-buy and an average target price set at $33.00.
• A-Mark reported $0.76 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, although revenue fell short of expectations at $2.51 billion.

A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMRK - Get Free Report)'s share price fell 3.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $26.83 and last traded at $26.73. 174,564 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 35% from the average session volume of 267,407 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.69.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Roth Capital upgraded A-Mark Precious Metals to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Zacks Research upgraded A-Mark Precious Metals from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $29.00 price target on shares of A-Mark Precious Metals in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $33.00.

A-Mark Precious Metals Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $23.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.32. The company has a market cap of $661.09 million, a P/E ratio of 38.88 and a beta of 0.16.

A-Mark Precious Metals (NASDAQ:AMRK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 9th. The company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $2.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.91 billion. A-Mark Precious Metals had a net margin of 0.16% and a return on equity of 7.77%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. will post 2.11 EPS for the current year.

A-Mark Precious Metals Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. A-Mark Precious Metals's payout ratio is 115.94%.

Insider Transactions at A-Mark Precious Metals

In other A-Mark Precious Metals news, Director Moorhead John sold 2,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.97, for a total transaction of $70,122.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 32,974 shares in the company, valued at $889,308.78. This trade represents a 7.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 48.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of A-Mark Precious Metals

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in shares of A-Mark Precious Metals by 6.7% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 57,344 shares of the company's stock worth $1,455,000 after purchasing an additional 3,582 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new stake in A-Mark Precious Metals during the first quarter worth about $41,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its stake in A-Mark Precious Metals by 2,692.0% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 241,177 shares of the company's stock worth $6,119,000 after buying an additional 232,539 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. bought a new position in A-Mark Precious Metals in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,059,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of A-Mark Precious Metals by 95.9% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 65,717 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,801,000 after buying an additional 32,176 shares in the last quarter. 75.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.