Tronox (NYSE:TROX) Cut to “Underweight” at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Tronox (NYSE:TROX) from a neutral rating to an underweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $5.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $7.00.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $10.00 target price on shares of Tronox in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Truist Financial upgraded Tronox from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $7.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Tronox from $9.00 to $6.50 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Tronox in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Tronox from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, June 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $6.93.

Tronox Trading Down 0.7%

TROX opened at $5.96 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $950.42 million, a P/E ratio of -1.72 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.62. The company’s 50 day moving average is $6.51 and its 200-day moving average is $7.56. Tronox has a 1-year low of $2.86 and a 1-year high of $10.59.

Tronox (NYSE:TROX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($0.51) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.38) by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $868.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $832.59 million. Tronox had a negative return on equity of 24.34% and a negative net margin of 17.96%.Tronox’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.28) earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Tronox will post -1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Tronox Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. Tronox’s payout ratio is presently -5.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tronox

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of TROX. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Tronox by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,637,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205,249 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its holdings in Tronox by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 5,478,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,845,000 after purchasing an additional 773,900 shares during the period. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. increased its holdings in Tronox by 123.0% in the fourth quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 4,347,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,128,000 after purchasing an additional 2,398,038 shares during the period. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. raised its position in Tronox by 66.8% during the 4th quarter. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. now owns 3,051,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,724,000 after purchasing an additional 1,222,115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in Tronox by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,039,337 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,819,000 after purchasing an additional 139,960 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.36% of the company’s stock.

Tronox Company Profile

Tronox Holdings plc is a vertically integrated global producer of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) pigment and specialty materials. The company’s operations encompass the full supply chain for TiO₂, from mining and processing titanium-bearing ores—such as ilmenite and rutile—to the production of high-purity pigment for use in paints, coatings, plastics, paper and other industrial applications. In addition to TiO₂, Tronox’s product portfolio includes zircon, rare earth byproducts and other specialty minerals that serve a range of industrial markets.

Tronox operates a network of mines, processing facilities and pigment plants located across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia and South Africa.