U.S. Silica (NYSE:SLCA) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

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

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

U.S. Silica Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SLCA opened at $15.44 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 3.62 and a quick ratio of 2.74. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $15.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.91. The firm has a market capitalization 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.

U.S. Silica (NYSE:SLCA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The mining company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20. The firm had revenue of $325.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $336.59 million. U.S. Silica had a return on equity of 13.77% and a net margin of 8.08%. The business’s revenue was down 26.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 business’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 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On U.S. Silica

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Findell Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in U.S. Silica in the fourth quarter valued at $5,881,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in U.S. Silica by 90.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,817,279 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $43,173,000 after purchasing an additional 1,811,951 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its position in U.S. Silica by 649.2% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 155,812 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $2,188,000 after purchasing an additional 135,016 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in U.S. Silica by 26.3% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,235 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $184,000 after purchasing an additional 3,378 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in U.S. Silica by 12.4% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,040,426 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $14,608,000 after purchasing an additional 114,579 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.