Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires 4,378,023 Shares of Tronox Holdings PLC $TROX

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Tronox Holdings PLC (NYSE:TROX) by 203.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,534,894 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,378,023 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Tronox were worth $26,270,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in Tronox by 4.5% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 70,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,000 after purchasing an additional 3,042 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its holdings in Tronox by 20.5% during the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 22,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 3,786 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its stake in Tronox by 2.6% in the third quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 151,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $609,000 after acquiring an additional 3,828 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in Tronox by 25.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 22,998 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 4,618 shares during the period. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Tronox by 5.6% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 115,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $440,000 after acquiring an additional 6,119 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO John D. Romano sold 101,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.59, for a total value of $669,544.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,473,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,711,946.60. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jeffrey N. Neuman sold 22,965 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.59, for a total value of $151,339.35. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 248,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,639,796.29. The trade was a 8.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 172,711 shares of company stock valued at $1,145,137. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TROX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Tronox from $5.50 to $7.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 target price on shares of Tronox in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Tronox in a research report on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Tronox from $5.25 to $7.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Tronox in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.35.

Tronox Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TROX opened at $6.75 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.46 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $6.57 and a 200-day moving average of $4.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.27 and a beta of 1.11. Tronox Holdings PLC has a fifty-two week low of $2.86 and a fifty-two week high of $8.80.

Tronox (NYSE:TROX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported ($0.60) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by ($0.17). The company had revenue of $730.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.22 million. Tronox had a negative net margin of 16.22% and a negative return on equity of 14.75%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.03 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Tronox Holdings PLC will post 0.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Tronox Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, February 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 23rd. Tronox’s payout ratio is presently -6.73%.

Tronox 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.