Ero Copper (NYSE:ERO) Stock Sees Heavy Call Option Buying

Ero Copper Corp. (NYSE:ERO) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 5,882 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 63% compared to the average volume of 3,608 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ero Copper

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ERO. Impala Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ero Copper during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,201,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Ero Copper during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,802,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Ero Copper by 4,913.8% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 974,932 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000,000 after buying an additional 955,487 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Ero Copper in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,121,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Ero Copper in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $19,887,000. Institutional investors own 71.30% of the company’s stock.

Ero Copper Price Performance

Shares of Ero Copper stock traded down $0.97 on Wednesday, hitting $31.93. 836,864 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,438,785. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 1.27. Ero Copper has a 12-month low of $19.09 and a 12-month high of $40.83.

Ero Copper (NYSE:ERO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $284.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $277.64 million. Ero Copper had a net margin of 29.79% and a return on equity of 30.32%. Analysts expect that Ero Copper will post 4.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised Ero Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Bradesco Corretora lowered Ero Copper from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Wall Street Zen cut Ero Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Ero Copper in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Ero Copper from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.33.

About Ero Copper

Ero Copper Corp. is a Canadian-based mining company focused on the exploration, development and production of copper and associated minerals. Its shares trade under the symbol ERO on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The company’s principal assets are in Brazil. Its Caraíba Operations in the state of Bahia include underground and open-pit copper mines, processing facilities and related infrastructure. Ero Copper also operates the Tucumã copper mine in the state of Pará, while advancing additional exploration and development opportunities in Brazil.

Ero Copper was established in 2016 and has built its business around operating and expanding its Brazilian mining portfolio.