Tronox (NYSE:TROX) Price Target Lowered to $12.00 at Morgan Stanley

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

TROX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on 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 decreased their price objective 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 target price on Tronox from $18.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Tronox from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Tronox presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.50.

Tronox Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TROX opened at $9.31 on Monday. 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 has a twelve month low of $8.73 and a twelve month high of $20.70. The company’s 50 day moving average is $11.00 and its 200 day moving average is $13.03. The company has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a PE ratio of -19.40 and a beta of 1.62.

Tronox (NYSE:TROX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.30). The business had revenue of $804.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $790.63 million. Tronox had a negative net margin of 2.40% and a negative return on equity of 3.91%. Tronox’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.08) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Tronox will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Tronox Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a $0.125 dividend. 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 presently -104.17%.

Institutional Trading of Tronox

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of TROX. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Tronox during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $66,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Tronox in the second quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Tronox in the 2nd quarter valued at $83,000. nVerses Capital LLC raised its position in Tronox by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 10,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $152,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Tronox during the 3rd quarter worth $190,000. 73.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.