U.S. Silica (NYSE:SLCA) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of U.S. Silica (NYSE:SLCA) in a report released on Monday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the mining company’s stock.

Separately, Citigroup raised their price target on U.S. Silica from $13.50 to $15.50 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st.

U.S. Silica Stock Performance

Shares of SLCA stock opened at $15.44 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $15.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.50 and a beta of 1.99. U.S. Silica has a 1 year low of $10.09 and a 1 year high of $16.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 3.62.

U.S. Silica (NYSE:SLCA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The mining company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.20. The firm had revenue of $325.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $336.59 million. U.S. Silica had a return on equity of 13.77% and a net margin of 8.08%. U.S. Silica’s revenue was down 26.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that U.S. Silica will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other U.S. Silica news, EVP Zach Carusona sold 42,605 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.55, for a total transaction of $662,507.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 160,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,502,445.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On U.S. Silica

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of U.S. Silica by 49.3% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,027,823 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $26,034,000 after purchasing an additional 669,534 shares during the period. Invenomic Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of U.S. Silica in the first quarter valued at $2,536,000. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of U.S. Silica in the first quarter valued at $159,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of U.S. Silica by 8.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,192 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 3,276 shares during the period. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of U.S. Silica by 43.1% in the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 516,183 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $6,406,000 after purchasing an additional 155,400 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.77% of the company’s stock.

About U.S. Silica

U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc produces and sells commercial silica in the United States. It operates through two segments: Oil & Gas Proppants and Industrial & Specialty Products. The company offers whole grain commercial silica products to be used as frac for oil and natural gas recovery, as well as sells its whole grain silica products for the manufacturing of glass products.