Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Analyst consensus "Buy": 17 brokerages cover Agnico Eagle with a consensus "Buy" (10 buy, 4 strong buy, 3 hold) and an average 1‑year price target of $234.91.
• Quarterly beats and strong margins: The company reported Q EPS of $2.69 versus $2.56 expected and revenue of $3.53B versus $3.40B, with revenue up 60.3% year‑over‑year and a net margin of 37.47%.
• Dividend raised and heavy institutional buying: Agnico raised its quarterly dividend to $0.45 (annualized $1.80, yield ~0.8%, ex‑dividend Mar 2), while large institutions including Norges Bank, Capital World Investors and VanEck significantly increased stakes; institutions now own 68.34% of the stock.

Shares of Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM - Get Free Report) TSE: AEM have been given a consensus recommendation of "Buy" by the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $234.9091.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AEM shares. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded Agnico Eagle Mines from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $185.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Citigroup upped their price target on Agnico Eagle Mines from $198.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $189.00 price objective on Agnico Eagle Mines in a research report on Sunday, December 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a $296.00 price objective on Agnico Eagle Mines and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Agnico Eagle Mines from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,367,783,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 20,765,804 shares of the mining company's stock worth $3,497,470,000 after buying an additional 3,462,968 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 17,225,477 shares of the mining company's stock worth $2,920,258,000 after buying an additional 3,062,705 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Agnico Eagle Mines by 38.8% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,296,796 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $987,398,000 after buying an additional 2,319,131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in Agnico Eagle Mines by 48.3% in the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,528,022 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $538,506,000 after buying an additional 1,474,385 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.34% of the company's stock.

Agnico Eagle Mines Price Performance

NYSE:AEM opened at $225.28 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.33. Agnico Eagle Mines has a one year low of $94.77 and a one year high of $255.24. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $208.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $179.31. The stock has a market cap of $112.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.37 and a beta of 0.61.

Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM - Get Free Report) TSE: AEM last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The mining company reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.56 by $0.13. Agnico Eagle Mines had a net margin of 37.47% and a return on equity of 18.09%. The company had revenue of $3.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.40 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 60.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Agnico Eagle Mines will post 4.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Agnico Eagle Mines Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is an increase from Agnico Eagle Mines's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Agnico Eagle Mines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

About Agnico Eagle Mines

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited NYSE: AEM is a Canadian-based senior gold producer headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company is principally engaged in the exploration, development, production and reclamation of gold-bearing properties. Agnico Eagle pursues both greenfield and brownfield exploration to expand its resource base and operates a portfolio of producing mines and development projects to generate long-life gold production.

Its core business activities span the full mining lifecycle: grassroots and advanced-stage exploration, prefeasibility and feasibility studies, mine construction, underground and open-pit mining, ore processing and metal recovery, and post-mining reclamation and closure.

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