North Star Investment Management Corp. Sells 24,455 Shares of Sprott Inc. $SII

Key Points

• North Star Investment Management trimmed its stake in Sprott Inc. by 25.8% in Q4, selling 24,455 shares and finishing the period with 70,246 shares worth $6.879 million (about 0.27% of the company).
• Sprott reported a Q beat on EPS ($1.11 vs. $0.53 consensus) but missed on revenue ($61.7M vs. $69.12M) and recently paid a $0.40 quarterly dividend ($1.60 annualized, ~1.2% yield).
• Analysts have a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with a $132 target price; RBC upgraded to "outperform" while the coverage mix is two Buys and one Hold.

North Star Investment Management Corp. lessened its stake in Sprott Inc. (NYSE:SII - Free Report) by 25.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 70,246 shares of the company's stock after selling 24,455 shares during the quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. owned about 0.27% of Sprott worth $6,879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SII. Rialto Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Sprott by 26.0% during the fourth quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 800 shares of the company's stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Sprott by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 3,458 shares of the company's stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Sprott by 1.5% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 15,351 shares of the company's stock worth $1,056,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Sprott by 1.5% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 19,927 shares of the company's stock worth $1,650,000 after buying an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Sprott during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 28.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SII has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Securities reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Sprott in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Sprott from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Sprott from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $132.00.

Sprott Stock Performance

Shares of SII traded up $3.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $129.04. The company had a trading volume of 30,948 shares, compared to its average volume of 241,841. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $145.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $116.22. Sprott Inc. has a 1-year low of $50.56 and a 1-year high of $169.63. The company has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.73 and a beta of 0.98.

Sprott (NYSE:SII - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.58. Sprott had a net margin of 23.62% and a return on equity of 19.47%. The company had revenue of $61.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $69.12 million.

Sprott Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. Sprott's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.54%.

About Sprott

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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