Tronox Holdings PLC (NYSE:TROX) Receives Average Recommendation of "Reduce" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts give Tronox a consensus “Reduce” rating: Four analysts rate the stock a sell, four hold, and one buy, with an average 12-month price target of $7.08. Recent actions included JPMorgan downgrading the stock to underweight with a $5 target and Goldman Sachs cutting its target to $6.50.
• Tronox’s shares opened at $4.33, well below their 50-day and 200-day moving averages, while the company reported a quarterly EPS loss of $0.51 that missed estimates despite revenue rising 18.7% year over year.
• Institutional investors own 73.36% of the stock, and Tronox declared a quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share, representing an annualized yield of approximately 4.6%.

Shares of Tronox Holdings PLC (NYSE:TROX - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Reduce" from the nine brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $7.0833.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on TROX shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Tronox in a research report on Friday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Tronox from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $7.00 to $5.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Truist Financial upgraded 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Tronox from $9.00 to $6.50 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Tronox from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th.

Institutional Trading of Tronox

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TROX. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. increased its position in shares of Tronox by 123.0% in the fourth quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 4,347,134 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,128,000 after acquiring an additional 2,398,038 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Tronox by 21,419.9% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,065,665 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,412,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,713 shares during the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP boosted its position in Tronox by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 1,787,731 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,455,000 after purchasing an additional 157,760 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Tronox by 689.3% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 856,617 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,397,000 after purchasing an additional 748,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Tronox by 0.6% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 500,461 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,890,000 after purchasing an additional 3,225 shares in the last quarter. 73.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tronox Price Performance

Shares of TROX opened at $4.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $7.26. 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 2.62, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 2.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $690.70 million, a PE ratio of -1.25 and a beta of 0.79.

Tronox (NYSE:TROX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($0.51) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $868.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $832.59 million. Tronox had a negative return on equity of 24.34% and a negative net margin of 17.96%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.28) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Tronox will post -1.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Tronox Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be given a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. Tronox's dividend payout ratio is -5.78%.

About Tronox

Tronox Holdings plc NYSE: TROX is a global producer of titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigment, a material used to provide whiteness, brightness, and opacity in paints and coatings, plastics, paper, and other products. The company also produces titanium feedstocks, zircon, and other mineral-sands products used in pigment manufacturing and a range of industrial applications.

Tronox operates an integrated business model that includes the exploration and mining of mineral sands, processing and upgrading titanium-bearing ores, manufacturing TiO2 pigment, and producing related specialty materials.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.