Empowered Funds LLC Takes $1.52 Million Position in Sprott Inc. $SII

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC acquired 10,643 Sprott shares worth approximately $1.52 million in the first quarter. Institutional investors collectively own 28.3% of Sprott.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $230 price target, although some firms recently downgraded the stock to “Hold.”
• Sprott reported quarterly EPS of $1.33, slightly below estimates, while revenue of $71.78 million also missed expectations. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share, implying a 1.4% annual yield.

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sprott Inc. (NYSE:SII - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 10,643 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,521,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SII. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in Sprott by 13.1% in the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 71,499 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,194,000 after purchasing an additional 8,285 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Sprott in the 1st quarter valued at about $350,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Sprott by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 23,764 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,392,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT acquired a new position in shares of Sprott in the first quarter worth about $244,000. Finally, Cumberland Partners Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Sprott by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 36,200 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,150,000 after buying an additional 3,900 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SII has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Sprott from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings cut Sprott from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Sprott from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, TD Securities reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Sprott in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $230.00.

Sprott Price Performance

NYSE SII opened at $117.83 on Friday. Sprott Inc. has a 12 month low of $61.94 and a 12 month high of $169.63. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $113.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $129.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a PE ratio of 28.88 and a beta of 0.83.

Sprott (NYSE:SII - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $71.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $82.45 million. Sprott had a return on equity of 28.40% and a net margin of 26.36%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share.

Sprott Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Sprott's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.93%.

Sprott Profile

Sprott Inc is a Toronto‐based alternative asset manager specializing in precious metals, real assets and related investment vehicles. Founded in 1981 by Eric Sprott, the firm has built a reputation for offering physically backed bullion trusts, exchange‐traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds and private managed accounts that provide exposure to gold, silver, platinum and other hard assets. Sprott's product lineup also includes royalty and streaming strategies, which grant investors long‐term participation in mining project cash flows without direct operational risk.

In addition to its flagship physical bullion trusts, Sprott offers actively managed equity portfolios that focus on companies engaged in the exploration, development and production of precious metals.

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