Tronox (NYSE:TROX) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Shares of Tronox Holdings plc (NYSE:TROX) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $13.65, but opened at $14.42. Tronox shares last traded at $14.42, with a volume of 238,737 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TROX. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Tronox from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Tronox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Tronox from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Barclays cut their price target on Tronox from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Tronox from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Tronox currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.83.

Tronox Stock Up 2.8 %

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.97, a PEG ratio of 26.29 and a beta of 1.64.

Tronox (NYSE:TROX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.11). Tronox had a negative net margin of 2.14% and a negative return on equity of 3.40%. The firm had revenue of $820.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $848.04 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.16 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Tronox Holdings plc will post 0.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Tronox Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 26th were paid a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 26th. Tronox’s payout ratio is -121.95%.

Institutional Trading of Tronox

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Tronox during the 2nd quarter worth about $76,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Tronox during the 2nd quarter worth about $83,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Tronox during the 2nd quarter worth about $121,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Tronox during the 1st quarter worth about $124,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Tronox by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 10,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares in the last quarter. 73.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Tronox

Tronox Holdings plc operates as a vertically integrated manufacturer of TiO2 pigment in North America, South and Central America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates titanium-bearing mineral sand mines; and engages in beneficiation and smelting operations. It offers TiO2 pigment; ultrafine specialty TiO2; zircon; feedstock; pig iron; monazite; titanium tetrachloride; and other products.