Tronox Holdings PLC (NYSE:TROX) Stock Now Rated "Reduce" by Wall Street Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts rate Tronox “Reduce” overall: Four analysts recommend selling, four advise holding and one recommends buying. The average 12-month price target is $5.83, though several firms recently lowered their targets and maintained negative ratings.
• The stock remains under pressure: Tronox opened at $3.63, down 3.8%, with shares trading well below their 50-day and 200-day moving averages. The company reported a quarterly loss of $0.51 per share, worse than the expected $0.38 loss.
• Tronox pays a quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share, equating to a 5.5% annualized yield, while institutional investors own 73.36% of the company.

Tronox Holdings PLC (NYSE:TROX - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Reduce" from the nine analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $5.83.

Several brokerages recently commented on TROX. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Tronox from $7.00 to $4.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Tronox from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $7.00 to $5.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "sell" rating and set a $4.00 price objective on shares of Tronox in a research note on Friday. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Tronox from $5.50 to $4.50 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Tronox in a research report on Friday, August 7th.

Tronox Trading Down 3.8%

NYSE TROX opened at $3.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $580.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.05 and a beta of 0.92. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $4.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $6.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 2.55. Tronox has a 52 week low of $2.86 and a 52 week high of $10.59.

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

Tronox Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th were given a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. Tronox's dividend payout ratio is -5.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tronox

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. raised its stake in 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 valued at $18,128,000 after acquiring an additional 2,398,038 shares during the period. Shah Capital Management boosted its position in Tronox by 13.4% during the third quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 2,915,807 shares of the company's stock worth $11,517,000 after purchasing an additional 344,993 shares during the period. 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 worth $10,412,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,713 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new position in Tronox during the second quarter worth $4,355,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.36% of the company's stock.

About Tronox

Tronox Holdings plc NYSE: TROX is a global producer of titanium dioxide pigment, a white pigment used to provide brightness, opacity and durability in products such as paints and coatings, plastics, paper and specialty materials. The company also produces titanium feedstocks, including titanium slag and synthetic rutile, as well as zircon and other mineral-sands products.

Tronox operates an integrated business that spans the mining and processing of mineral sands, the production of titanium feedstocks and the manufacture of titanium dioxide pigment.

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