Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE:PAAS) Short Interest Down 19.1% in December

Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,720,000 shares, a decline of 19.1% from the December 15th total of 8,310,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,330,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Pan American Silver Price Performance

PAAS opened at $21.22 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.66. Pan American Silver has a 12 month low of $12.16 and a 12 month high of $26.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Pan American Silver Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Pan American Silver’s dividend payout ratio is presently -235.28%.

Institutional Trading of Pan American Silver

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Pan American Silver in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Builder Investment Group Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Pan American Silver by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Builder Investment Group Inc. ADV now owns 259,074 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,238,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Pan American Silver in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Pan American Silver during the third quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Pan American Silver during the third quarter worth $257,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on PAAS shares. StockNews.com cut Pan American Silver from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 1st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Pan American Silver from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.42.

About Pan American Silver

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.