Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) Trading Down 2.1% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• AEM shares fell 2.1% to $218.20 on Thursday, trading as low as $215.81 on roughly 1.45 million shares—about 48% below its average daily volume.
• Analyst consensus is "Buy" with an average target of $234.91, backed by multiple buy/strong-buy ratings (Citigroup at $256, Jefferies at $189 among others).
• Fundamentals remain solid: AEM beat Q results with $2.69 EPS vs $2.56 expected and revenue of $3.53B (+60.3% YoY), raised its quarterly dividend to $0.45 (annual $1.80, yield 0.8%), and carries a very low debt-to-equity of 0.01.

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM - Get Free Report) TSE: AEM's share price dropped 2.1% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $215.81 and last traded at $218.20. Approximately 1,445,392 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 48% from the average daily volume of 2,773,129 shares. The stock had previously closed at $222.81.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AEM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $189.00 target price on Agnico Eagle Mines in a research report on Sunday, December 7th. Wall Street Zen cut Agnico Eagle Mines from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. Zacks Research raised Agnico Eagle Mines from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from $198.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Agnico Eagle Mines currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $234.91.

Agnico Eagle Mines Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $210.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $180.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 2.02. The stock has a market cap of $109.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.57 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.56 by $0.13. Agnico Eagle Mines had a return on equity of 18.09% and a net margin of 37.47%.The company had revenue of $3.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.26 EPS. Agnico Eagle Mines's revenue was up 60.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Agnico Eagle Mines Limited will post 4.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Agnico Eagle Mines Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agnico Eagle Mines

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its position in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 13.4% during the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,133,384 shares of the mining company's stock worth $192,951,000 after acquiring an additional 134,147 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its position in Agnico Eagle Mines by 386.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 188,189 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $31,703,000 after acquiring an additional 149,506 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC boosted its stake in Agnico Eagle Mines by 1,560.8% during the 3rd quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 48,677 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $8,205,000 after purchasing an additional 45,746 shares during the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new position in Agnico Eagle Mines during the 3rd quarter valued at about $23,958,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Agnico Eagle Mines by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 9,500,193 shares of the mining company's stock worth $1,600,436,000 after purchasing an additional 143,645 shares in the last quarter. 68.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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