A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMRK) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMRK) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,750,000 shares, a drop of 5.8% from the September 30th total of 2,920,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 320,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 8.6 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Michael R. Wittmeyer sold 10,975 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.30, for a total value 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Michael R. Wittmeyer sold 10,975 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.30, for a total transaction of $475,217.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 292,535 shares in the company, valued at $12,666,765.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Gregory N. Roberts sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.44, for a total value of $999,680.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 28,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,281,498.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,316 shares of company stock valued at $4,911,036 over the last 90 days. 48.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 539 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in A-Mark Precious Metals in the second quarter valued at $45,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of A-Mark Precious Metals in the third quarter valued at $88,000. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 4,895 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of A-Mark Precious Metals in the 3rd quarter worth about $232,000. 75.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMRK has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of A-Mark Precious Metals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. 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, September 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, A-Mark Precious Metals currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.33.

A-Mark Precious Metals Stock Performance

Shares of AMRK stock opened at $38.85 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $41.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.30. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $900.12 million, a PE ratio of 14.13 and a beta of -0.04. 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 released its 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). The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.64 billion. A-Mark Precious Metals had a net margin of 0.68% and a return on equity of 13.28%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that A-Mark Precious Metals will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

A-Mark Precious Metals Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 8th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 8th. A-Mark Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.09%.

A-Mark Precious Metals Company Profile

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.