Tronox (NYSE:TROX) Upgraded at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Tronox (NYSE:TROX) from an underweight rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

TROX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Tronox from $7.00 to $4.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Tronox in a research report on Wednesday, November 4th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Tronox from $7.00 to $4.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Tronox from $6.50 to $4.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Tronox from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $5.04.

Tronox Stock Performance

NYSE:TROX opened at $2.81 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $447.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.88 and a beta of 0.98. Tronox has a 1 year low of $2.41 and a 1 year high of $10.59. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $3.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70, a current ratio of 2.52 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

Tronox (NYSE:TROX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.34) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by ($0.13). Tronox had a negative net margin of 15.86% and a negative return on equity of 25.02%. The firm had revenue of $827.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $854.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.46) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Tronox will post -1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Tronox Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 16th will be issued a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 16th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.1%. Tronox’s dividend payout ratio is presently -6.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Peter Johnston purchased 20,000 shares of Tronox stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $2.63 per share, with a total value of $52,600.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 224,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $590,332.43. This represents a 9.78% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Tronox

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Shah Capital Management grew its stake in Tronox by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Shah Capital Management now owns 2,915,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,517,000 after acquiring an additional 344,993 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,060,713 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Tronox by 0.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,225 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tronox in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,355,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Tronox by 2.6% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 235,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,299,000 after purchasing an additional 5,900 shares during the period. 73.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Tronox

Tronox Holdings plc is a vertically integrated producer of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) pigment and mineral-sands products. Its operations span the value chain from mining titanium-bearing mineral sands to processing them into feedstocks and finished products. The company’s products include TiO₂ pigment, used to add whiteness, brightness and opacity to paints, coatings, plastics and other materials. Tronox also produces titanium feedstocks such as chloride-grade slag and synthetic rutile, as well as zircon, which is used in ceramics and other applications.