Tronox Holdings PLC (NYSE:TROX) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Tronox Holdings PLC (NYSE:TROX) has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from eight research firms, with an average 12-month price target of $5.0125.
• Insider activity shows that Director Jean Francois Turgeon purchased 31,150 shares at an average cost of $3.21 per share, increasing his stake in the company.
• Tronox reported an EPS of -$0.28 for the last quarter, missing estimates, and announced a dividend of $0.05 per share, due to be paid on October 3rd.

Tronox Holdings PLC (NYSE:TROX - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from the nine analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $5.0111.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial set a $5.00 price target on shares of Tronox in a research report on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Tronox from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $5.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Friday, May 30th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Tronox from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $7.00 to $3.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Tronox from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $8.00 to $3.60 in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Tronox from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th.

Tronox Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of TROX traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $3.71. The stock had a trading volume of 2,233,954 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,948,501. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The firm has a market cap of $588.74 million, a P/E ratio of -2.34 and a beta of 1.35. Tronox has a fifty-two week low of $2.95 and a fifty-two week high of $15.07.

Tronox (NYSE:TROX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.28) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $731.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $802.03 million. Tronox had a negative return on equity of 4.83% and a negative net margin of 8.48%. Tronox's revenue for the quarter was down 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.07 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Tronox will post 0.49 EPS for the current year.

Tronox Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. This represents a yield of 629.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 11th. Tronox's dividend payout ratio is currently -12.66%.

Insider Transactions at Tronox

In related news, Director Stephen J. Jones bought 8,000 shares of Tronox stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $3.19 per share, with a total value of $25,520.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 51,000 shares in the company, valued at $162,690. This trade represents a 18.60% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Jeffrey A. Engle bought 12,600 shares of Tronox stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $3.07 per share, for a total transaction of $38,682.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president owned 146,926 shares in the company, valued at $451,062.82. This represents a 9.38% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 184,750 shares of company stock worth $579,714. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Tronox

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Tronox by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 101,264 shares of the company's stock worth $1,020,000 after acquiring an additional 1,891 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Tronox by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 67,532 shares of the company's stock worth $680,000 after purchasing an additional 2,201 shares in the last quarter. Investors Research Corp increased its holdings in Tronox by 16.4% in the first quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 16,300 shares of the company's stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Tronox by 6.2% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 42,677 shares of the company's stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 2,482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its holdings in Tronox by 48.9% in the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 9,844 shares of the company's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 3,231 shares in the last quarter. 73.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Tronox

Tronox Holdings plc operates as a vertically integrated manufacturer of TiO2 pigment in North America, South and Central America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates titanium-bearing mineral sand mines; and engages in beneficiation and smelting operations. It offers TiO2 pigment; ultrafine specialty TiO2; zircon; feedstock; pig iron; monazite; titanium tetrachloride; and other products.