Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $4.97 Million Position in U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SLCA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SLCA) by 0.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 400,476 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 1,509 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.51% of U.S. Silica worth $4,970,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of U.S. Silica by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,115,616 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $57,858,000 after buying an additional 184,449 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,811,951 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 114,579 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of U.S. Silica by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 823,696 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $9,316,000 after buying an additional 46,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Findell Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of U.S. Silica in the fourth quarter valued at $5,881,000. 87.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Zach Carusona sold 42,605 shares of U.S. Silica stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,502,445.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on U.S. Silica in a research note on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective 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 Price Performance

SLCA stock remained flat at $15.44 during midday trading on Friday. The company had a trading volume of 447,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,293,482. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $15.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.93. The company has a current ratio of 3.62, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.50 and a beta of 1.99. U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $10.09 and a 1 year high of $16.03.

U.S. Silica (NYSE:SLCA) last issued its 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. U.S. Silica had a return on equity of 13.77% and a net margin of 8.08%. The firm had revenue of $325.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $336.59 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 26.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Silica Company Profile

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.