Ero Copper (NYSE:ERO) Trading 7.9% Higher – Time to Buy?

Ero Copper Corp. (NYSE:ERO)’s stock price rose 7.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $31.04 and last traded at $31.2450. 1,079,300 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 1,599,409 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.97.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ERO shares. National Bank Financial raised Ero Copper from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Ero Copper from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $33.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. ATB Cormark Capital Markets upgraded shares of Ero Copper to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Ero Copper from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ero Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ero Copper has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.50.

Ero Copper Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $27.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 1.13.

Ero Copper (NYSE:ERO) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.13. Ero Copper had a return on equity of 29.86% and a net margin of 31.63%.The firm had revenue of $263.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $245.51 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Ero Copper Corp. will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda lifted its position in Ero Copper by 86.0% during the 3rd quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda now owns 1,076,696 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,782,000 after acquiring an additional 497,978 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of Ero Copper by 2,198.1% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 88,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,798,000 after purchasing an additional 84,868 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ero Copper in the third quarter valued at about $12,599,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Ero Copper in the third quarter worth about $1,267,000. Finally, Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ero Copper during the 3rd quarter worth about $5,117,000. 71.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ero Copper Company Profile

Ero Copper Corp (NYSE: ERO) is a Canada-based natural resource company focused on the production of copper concentrate from its Brazilian operations. The company’s flagship asset is the Vale do Curaçá mining complex in the state of Bahia, which includes multiple underground mines and a centralized processing facility. Ero Copper’s primary product is copper concentrate, which is sold to smelters and end users around the world.

The Vale do Curaçá complex comprises the Pilar and Surubim underground mines, supported by a fully integrated processing plant.