Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Tronox (NYSE:TROX) Stock Price

Tronox (NYSE:TROX) had its price target trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $16.00 to $12.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on TROX. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Tronox from $15.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Tronox from $21.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays cut their price target on Tronox from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, UBS Group raised Tronox from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $19.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.50.

Tronox Price Performance

Shares of TROX opened at $9.31 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a PE ratio of -19.40 and a beta of 1.62. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $11.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.03. Tronox has a twelve month low of $8.73 and a twelve month high of $20.70. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

Tronox (NYSE:TROX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.30). The business had revenue of $804.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $790.63 million. Tronox had a negative return on equity of 3.91% and a negative net margin of 2.40%. The company’s revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.08) EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Tronox will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Tronox Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. Tronox’s dividend payout ratio is currently -104.17%.

Institutional Trading of Tronox

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its holdings in Tronox by 98.6% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 174,922 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,559,000 after purchasing an additional 86,852 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of Tronox by 20.8% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 493,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,221,000 after buying an additional 84,830 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Tronox by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,713,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,708,000 after acquiring an additional 22,165 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC boosted its holdings in Tronox by 127.2% in the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 309,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,849,000 after acquiring an additional 173,054 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Tronox by 54.6% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,537,723 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,497,000 after acquiring an additional 543,091 shares in the last quarter. 73.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Tronox Company Profile

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.