Tronox (NYSE:TROX) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at The Goldman Sachs Group

Tronox (NYSE:TROX) was downgraded by investment analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Tuesday. They currently have a $9.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 2.76% from the stock’s current price.

TROX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Mizuho lifted their target price on Tronox from $4.50 to $5.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Tronox from $7.50 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Tronox in a research note on Monday, April 20th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Tronox in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Tronox from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Tronox currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $6.60.

Tronox Stock Performance

TROX stock traded down $0.57 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $8.76. The stock had a trading volume of 729,175 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,693,602. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.28. Tronox has a 52-week low of $2.86 and a 52-week high of $10.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 2.46. The stock has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a PE ratio of -2.99 and a beta of 0.83.

Tronox (NYSE:TROX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.55) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.48) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $760.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $751.38 million. Tronox had a negative net margin of 15.82% and a negative return on equity of 19.13%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.15) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Tronox will post -1.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Jeffrey N. Neuman sold 22,965 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.59, for a total value of $151,339.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 248,831 shares in the company, valued at $1,639,796.29. The trade was a 8.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Jeffrey A. Engle sold 14,575 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.60, for a total transaction of $96,195.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 175,251 shares in the company, valued at $1,156,656.60. This trade represents a 7.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 172,711 shares of company stock worth $1,145,137. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tronox

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of Tronox by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 235,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,299,000 after acquiring an additional 5,900 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in Tronox in the 1st quarter worth about $850,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Tronox by 0.6% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 500,461 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,890,000 after purchasing an additional 3,225 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in Tronox by 137.9% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 45,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $444,000 after purchasing an additional 26,300 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Tronox in the first quarter valued at approximately $155,000. 73.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tronox Company Profile

Tronox Holdings plc is a vertically integrated global producer of titanium dioxide (TiO?) pigment and specialty materials. The company’s operations encompass the full supply chain for TiO?, from mining and processing titanium-bearing ores—such as ilmenite and rutile—to the production of high-purity pigment for use in paints, coatings, plastics, paper and other industrial applications. In addition to TiO?, Tronox’s product portfolio includes zircon, rare earth byproducts and other specialty minerals that serve a range of industrial markets.

Tronox operates a network of mines, processing facilities and pigment plants located across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia and South Africa.