Pan American Silver Corp. $PAAS Shares Purchased by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

Key Points

• The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Pan American Silver Corp. by 62.2%, acquiring an additional 650,678 shares in the first quarter, bringing its total ownership to approximately 1.7 million shares.
• Pan American Silver announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.10 to $0.12, representing an annualized yield of 1.4%.
• Analysts have downgraded the stock's ratings, with Zacks Research lowering it from "strong-buy" to "hold," while three analysts rate it as a Buy and five as a Hold, with a consensus price target of $31.40.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE:PAAS - Free Report) TSE: PAAS by 62.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,696,820 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 650,678 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned 0.47% of Pan American Silver worth $43,835,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp acquired a new stake in Pan American Silver during the first quarter worth about $2,689,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its holdings in Pan American Silver by 50.4% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 39,550 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,022,000 after acquiring an additional 13,250 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its position in Pan American Silver by 19.6% in the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 539,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $13,940,000 after buying an additional 88,600 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. raised its holdings in Pan American Silver by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 22,888 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $591,000 after buying an additional 2,142 shares during the period. Finally, Pale Fire Capital SE purchased a new stake in shares of Pan American Silver in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $16,776,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on PAAS shares. TD Securities lowered their target price on Pan American Silver from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Pan American Silver from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 16th. CIBC reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Pan American Silver in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Pan American Silver from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $31.40.

Pan American Silver Stock Performance

PAAS stock traded down $0.47 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $33.57. 2,751,680 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,574,427. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $30.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.15. Pan American Silver Corp. has a 52 week low of $18.50 and a 52 week high of $35.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.14 billion, a PE ratio of 23.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 3.05.

Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS - Get Free Report) TSE: PAAS last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.03. Pan American Silver had a return on equity of 11.49% and a net margin of 16.80%.The company had revenue of $811.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $782.12 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.11 earnings per share. Pan American Silver's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Pan American Silver Corp. will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Pan American Silver Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. This is an increase from Pan American Silver's previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Pan American Silver's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.10%.

Pan American Silver Company Profile

Pan American Silver Corp. engages in the exploration, mine development, extraction, processing, refining, and reclamation of silver, gold, zinc, lead, and copper mines in Canada, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. The company was formerly known as Pan American Minerals Corp. and changed its name to Pan American Silver Corp.