Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Analyst consensus: Fifteen brokerages rate Agnico Eagle a "Moderate Buy" (9 buys, 5 holds, 1 strong buy) with an average 12‑month price target of about $239.36.
• Recent performance: Shares opened at $189.16 (52‑week range $103.38–$255.24) with a $94.7B market cap; the company beat Q4 EPS and revenue estimates (EPS $2.69 vs $2.56, revenue $3.53B, +60.3% YoY) and reports a net margin of 37.47%.
• Capital allocation and ownership: Quarterly dividend was raised from $0.40 to $0.45 ($1.80 annualized, ~1.0% yield, 20.3% payout ratio), and institutional investors own about 68.34% of the stock with large new positions from Norges Bank and others.

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM - Get Free Report) TSE: AEM has been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $239.3636.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. TD boosted their price objective on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from $251.00 to $252.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from $248.00 to $235.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from $241.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from $240.00 to $210.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce dropped their price objective on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from $312.00 to $304.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st.

Agnico Eagle Mines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AEM opened at $189.16 on Wednesday. Agnico Eagle Mines has a 1 year low of $103.38 and a 1 year high of $255.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The company's 50-day moving average is $213.24 and its 200 day moving average is $191.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.30, a P/E/G ratio of 9.91 and a beta of 0.71.

Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM - Get Free Report) TSE: AEM last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The mining company reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analysts' expectations of $3.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. Agnico Eagle Mines's quarterly revenue was up 60.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Agnico Eagle Mines will post 12.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Agnico Eagle Mines Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. This is an increase from Agnico Eagle Mines's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Agnico Eagle Mines's payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agnico Eagle Mines

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,367,783,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 20.0% in the third 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 stake in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 21.6% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in the fourth quarter worth approximately $194,195,000. Finally, Employees Provident Fund Board bought a new position in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in the fourth quarter worth approximately $183,341,000. Institutional investors own 68.34% of the company's stock.

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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