A-Mark Precious Metals (NASDAQ:AMRK) Trading 8.6% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• A-Mark Precious Metals (NASDAQ:AMRK) shares rose 8.6% on Friday, reaching a last traded price of $27.15, down 39% from average trading volume.
• Wall Street analysts have rated AMRK with a consensus of "Moderate Buy", with a target price of $33.00, indicating potential growth for investors.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, yielding 2.9% annually, showing financial stability and shareholder returns.

A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMRK - Get Free Report) shares rose 8.6% during trading on Friday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. The company traded as high as $26.81 and last traded at $27.15. Approximately 158,593 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 39% from the average daily volume of 259,883 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.01.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on AMRK. Wall Street Zen upgraded A-Mark Precious Metals from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 17th. DA Davidson reiterated 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. Finally, Roth Capital upgraded A-Mark Precious Metals to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, A-Mark Precious Metals currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $33.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A-Mark Precious Metals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of A-Mark Precious Metals by 118.5% in the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,311 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 711 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new stake in A-Mark Precious Metals during the first quarter worth $41,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in A-Mark Precious Metals by 624.0% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,143 shares of the company's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in A-Mark Precious Metals by 1,192.3% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,184 shares of the company's stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 2,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in A-Mark Precious Metals during the first quarter worth $70,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.25% of the company's stock.

A-Mark Precious Metals Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.32. 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 company has a market cap of $669.49 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.58 and a beta of 0.16.

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

A-Mark Precious Metals Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. A-Mark Precious Metals's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 115.94%.

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.