Sigma Lithium (NASDAQ:SGML) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Sigma Lithium Corporation (NASDAQ:SGML) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after Bank of America upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. The stock had previously closed at $11.83, but opened at $12.37. Bank of America now has a $17.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $14.00. Sigma Lithium shares last traded at $13.4180, with a volume of 1,047,304 shares trading hands.

SGML has been the topic of several other research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of Sigma Lithium from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Sigma Lithium in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Citigroup cut shares of Sigma Lithium from an “overweight” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Sigma Lithium in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Sigma Lithium presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sigma Lithium

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Sigma Lithium by 142.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,606,668 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,529,000 after buying an additional 2,709,397 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Sigma Lithium by 26.6% in the third quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 2,964,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,005,000 after acquiring an additional 623,832 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Sigma Lithium by 101.7% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,647,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,911,000 after acquiring an additional 1,334,772 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Sigma Lithium during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $11,250,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Sigma Lithium by 24.9% during the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,550,713 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,091,000 after purchasing an additional 309,338 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.86% of the company’s stock.

Sigma Lithium Trading Up 14.8%

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 0.04.

Sigma Lithium (NASDAQ:SGML) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 30th. The company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $16.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.20 million. Sigma Lithium had a negative net margin of 45.64% and a negative return on equity of 53.45%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sigma Lithium Corporation will post -0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Sigma Lithium

Sigma Lithium Corp. is a Canada-based mineral exploration and development company focused on the sustainable production of battery-grade lithium from hard rock deposits. The company’s flagship asset is the Grota do Cirilo lithium project, located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Grota do Cirilo comprises a fully permitted, low-altitude spodumene mine and processing plant designed to produce high-purity lithium concentrate and downstream lithium hydroxide for the global electric vehicle and energy storage markets.

Since its founding in 2018, Sigma Lithium has pursued a vertically integrated approach, overseeing each stage of production from ore extraction and beneficiation to chemical conversion.