Zacks Research Downgrades Warrior Met Coal (NYSE:HCC) to Strong Sell

Warrior Met Coal (NYSE:HCC) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on HCC. B. Riley Financial reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Warrior Met Coal in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. UBS Group set a $108.00 price objective on Warrior Met Coal and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Warrior Met Coal from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Warrior Met Coal in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Warrior Met Coal from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Warrior Met Coal has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.50.

Warrior Met Coal Stock Performance

NYSE:HCC opened at $89.01 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.14. The company has a quick ratio of 3.00, a current ratio of 4.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The stock has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a PE ratio of 132.85 and a beta of 0.65. Warrior Met Coal has a fifty-two week low of $38.00 and a fifty-two week high of $105.35.

Warrior Met Coal (NYSE:HCC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by $0.91. Warrior Met Coal had a net margin of 2.87% and a return on equity of 2.01%. The firm had revenue of $328.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $302.51 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Warrior Met Coal will post 4.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Walter J. Scheller sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.31, for a total transaction of $10,031,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 294,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,509,496.73. This trade represents a 25.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kelli K. Gant sold 10,000 shares of Warrior Met Coal stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $1,000,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 70,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,058,000. This represents a 12.41% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Warrior Met Coal

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Warrior Met Coal by 217.2% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 467 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in Warrior Met Coal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Warrior Met Coal by 266.1% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 626 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Warrior Met Coal by 4,337.5% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 710 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd raised its stake in Warrior Met Coal by 919.6% during the third quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 938 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 846 shares during the period. 92.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Warrior Met Coal Company Profile

Warrior Met Coal (NYSE: HCC) is a leading producer of premium metallurgical coal, operating deep underground mining complexes in Central Alabama’s Blue Creek and Brookwood mining districts. The company focuses exclusively on the extraction and sale of high-grade hard coking coal, a critical raw material used in steel production. Its mining operations harness longwall mining technology and rigorous safety protocols to deliver consistent coal quality to customers worldwide.

Warrior Met Coal’s product portfolio centers on premium hard coking coal, semisoft coking coal, and pulverized coal injection (PCI) products.