Ramaco Resources (NASDAQ:METC) Price Target Lowered to $17.00 at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley cut its price target on Ramaco Resources to $17.00 (from $17.50) and kept an "equal weight" rating, a target that implies roughly a 23% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst coverage is mixed: the stock's consensus rating is "Hold" with a consensus target of $31.86, despite several recent downgrades and price-target cuts from firms like Goldman Sachs.
• Shares traded at $13.83 (down 2.2%); the company reported negative EPS and a 25% YoY revenue decline but the board authorized a $100 million share buyback (up to ~9.7% of shares outstanding).

Ramaco Resources (NASDAQ:METC - Get Free Report) had its target price reduced by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $17.50 to $17.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "equal weight" rating on the energy company's stock. Morgan Stanley's target price indicates a potential upside of 22.97% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Ramaco Resources from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Ramaco Resources from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Zacks Research cut shares of Ramaco Resources from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ramaco Resources from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Ramaco Resources in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ramaco Resources has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $31.86.

Ramaco Resources Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of METC stock traded down $0.32 on Thursday, hitting $13.83. The stock had a trading volume of 1,014,395 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,546,958. Ramaco Resources has a twelve month low of $7.53 and a twelve month high of $57.80. The firm has a market cap of $927.93 million, a P/E ratio of -13.97 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 5.46, a quick ratio of 4.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $15.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.16.

Ramaco Resources (NASDAQ:METC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $108.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $143.48 million. Ramaco Resources had a negative net margin of 9.59% and a negative return on equity of 12.01%. The firm's revenue was down 25.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.02 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Ramaco Resources will post 0.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ramaco Resources announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, December 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the energy company to purchase up to 9.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ramaco Resources

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Ramaco Resources by 78,508.3% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 9,433 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $170,000 after purchasing an additional 9,421 shares during the period. MidFirst Bank acquired a new position in Ramaco Resources in the 4th quarter valued at about $54,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Ramaco Resources in the 4th quarter valued at about $682,000. VARCOV Co. acquired a new position in Ramaco Resources in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,048,000. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Ramaco Resources in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,639,000. 74.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Ramaco Resources

Ramaco Resources, Inc NASDAQ: METC is a U.S.-based producer of premium metallurgical coal and industrial minerals, focused on supplying the steel and allied industries. The company’s operations are centered in the Appalachian region of West Virginia, where it develops, mines and processes high-carbon coal products designed to meet the quality requirements of blast‐furnace and electric‐arc furnace steelmakers.

The firm’s flagship asset is the Elk Creek underground mine in Wyoming County, West Virginia, which began commercial production in 2019 and delivers a range of high‐grade metallurgical and anthracite coals.

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