Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM) Short Interest Up 24.7% in March

Key Points

• Short interest surged 24.7% in March to 5,466,401 shares (about 1.1% of shares sold short), with a days-to-cover ratio of roughly 1.5 based on average daily volume.
• Strong quarter and dividend increase: Agnico reported $2.69 EPS and $3.53B revenue (beating estimates; revenue +60.3% YoY) and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.45 ($1.80 annualized, ~0.8% yield).
• Analyst and institutional support: The stock carries a "Moderate Buy" consensus with an average target of $237.30, and institutional investors own about 68% of the shares with several large funds recently adding or initiating positions.

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM - Get Free Report) TSE: AEM was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 5,466,401 shares, an increase of 24.7% from the March 15th total of 4,382,180 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,636,618 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Agnico Eagle Mines Price Performance

NYSE AEM traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $214.91. The company had a trading volume of 1,158,568 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,784,613. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Agnico Eagle Mines has a twelve month low of $103.38 and a twelve month high of $255.24. The company has a market capitalization of $107.68 billion, a PE ratio of 24.20 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $213.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $189.32.

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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.56 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $3.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.40 billion. Agnico Eagle Mines had a return on equity of 18.09% and a net margin of 37.47%.Agnico Eagle Mines's revenue was up 60.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.26 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Agnico Eagle Mines will post 4.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Agnico Eagle Mines Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Agnico Eagle Mines's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Agnico Eagle Mines's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AEM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $280.00 price target on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen cut Agnico Eagle Mines from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Agnico Eagle Mines from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a $296.00 target price on Agnico Eagle Mines and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Agnico Eagle Mines currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $237.30.

Institutional Trading of Agnico Eagle Mines

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AEM. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in the fourth quarter worth $1,367,783,000. Capital World Investors increased its holdings 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 during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew 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 purchasing an additional 3,062,705 shares during the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in the fourth quarter worth about $194,195,000. Finally, Employees Provident Fund Board bought a new stake in Agnico Eagle Mines during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $183,341,000. 68.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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