A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMRK) Short Interest Down 8.0% in September

A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMRK) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,560,000 shares, a decrease of 8.0% from the August 31st total of 3,870,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 360,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 9.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of A-Mark Precious Metals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of A-Mark Precious Metals from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, A-Mark Precious Metals has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Gregory N. Roberts sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.44, for a total value of $999,680.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 28,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,281,498.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Michael R. Wittmeyer sold 10,975 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.30, for a total transaction of $475,217.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 292,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,666,765.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gregory N. Roberts sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.44, for a total transaction of $999,680.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 28,202 shares in the company, valued at $1,281,498.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 110,316 shares of company stock worth $4,911,036. 23.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On A-Mark Precious Metals

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AMRK. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of A-Mark Precious Metals by 94.1% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,112 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in A-Mark Precious Metals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in A-Mark Precious Metals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $220,000. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in A-Mark Precious Metals by 192.5% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 7,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $228,000 after acquiring an additional 4,895 shares during the period. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC raised its stake in A-Mark Precious Metals by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 9,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 881 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.25% of the company’s stock.

A-Mark Precious Metals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AMRK opened at $44.16 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $39.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a PE ratio of 13.55 and a beta of -0.05. A-Mark Precious Metals has a 52-week low of $23.14 and a 52-week high of $47.39.

A-Mark Precious Metals (NASDAQ:AMRK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 29th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.59). A-Mark Precious Metals had a net margin of 0.68% and a return on equity of 13.28%. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.64 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that A-Mark Precious Metals will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

A-Mark Precious Metals Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 8th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 8th. A-Mark Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.54%.

About A-Mark Precious Metals

A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a precious metals trading company. It operates through three segments: Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services, Direct-to-Consumer, and Secured Lending. The Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services segment sells gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in the form of bars, plates, powders, wafers, grains, ingots, and coins.