Tronox (NYSE:TROX) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Tronox Holdings PLC (NYSE:TROX)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $5.85, but opened at $6.49. Tronox shares last traded at $6.6790, with a volume of 455,693 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TROX has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Tronox from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered Tronox from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Tronox from $7.50 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Tronox from $9.00 to $6.50 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of Tronox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $7.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $7.25.

Tronox Trading Up 16.6%

The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.36. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $7.55. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.35 and a beta of 0.82.

Tronox (NYSE:TROX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.51) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.38) by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $868.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $832.59 million. Tronox had a negative net margin of 15.82% and a negative return on equity of 19.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.28) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Tronox Holdings PLC will post -1.27 EPS for the current year.

Tronox Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Tronox’s dividend payout ratio is currently -6.85%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tronox

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Tronox by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,637,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205,249 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in shares of Tronox by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 5,478,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,845,000 after purchasing an additional 773,900 shares during the last quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Tronox by 123.0% in the 4th quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 4,347,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,128,000 after purchasing an additional 2,398,038 shares during the last quarter. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. boosted its position in Tronox by 66.8% during the 4th quarter. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. now owns 3,051,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,724,000 after purchasing an additional 1,222,115 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in Tronox by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,039,337 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,819,000 after purchasing an additional 139,960 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.36% of the company’s stock.

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.