Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.22 EPS

Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) (TSE:AEM) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The mining company reported $3.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by ($0.22), Zacks reports. Agnico Eagle Mines had a net margin of 37.47% and a return on equity of 18.09%.

Agnico Eagle Mines Price Performance

Shares of AEM stock traded up $4.73 on Thursday, reaching $188.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,658,709 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,734,003. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $212.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $191.78. Agnico Eagle Mines has a 1 year low of $103.38 and a 1 year high of $255.24. The company has a market capitalization of $94.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.91 and a beta of 0.71. 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 Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. This is an increase from Agnico Eagle Mines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Agnico Eagle Mines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AEM. UBS Group dropped their price target on Agnico Eagle Mines from $240.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from $248.00 to $235.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. Finally, TD Securities lifted their price target on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from $241.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.36.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 1,509.6% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 855,547 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $145,084,000 after purchasing an additional 802,395 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 566.2% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 888,239 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $149,593,000 after purchasing an additional 754,919 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Agnico Eagle Mines by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,052,065 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $517,417,000 after purchasing an additional 471,594 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its stake in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 106.4% during the fourth quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 838,500 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $142,381,000 after buying an additional 432,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Agnico Eagle Mines by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 8,687,624 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,489,509,000 after acquiring an additional 332,797 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.34% of the company’s stock.

Agnico Eagle Mines Company Profile

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.