U.S. Silica (NYSE:SLCA) Now Covered by StockNews.com

Equities researchers at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of U.S. Silica (NYSE:SLCA) in a report issued on Monday. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the mining company’s stock.

Separately, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of U.S. Silica from $13.50 to $15.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st.

U.S. Silica Stock Performance

Shares of SLCA stock opened at $15.44 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 3.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.90. U.S. Silica has a 12 month low of $10.09 and a 12 month high of $16.03. The firm has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.50 and a beta of 1.99.

U.S. Silica (NYSE:SLCA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The mining company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.20. U.S. Silica had a net margin of 8.08% and a return on equity of 13.77%. The firm had revenue of $325.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $336.59 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 26.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that U.S. Silica will post 1.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at U.S. Silica

In other news, EVP Zach Carusona sold 42,605 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.55, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of U.S. Silica

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of U.S. Silica by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,115,616 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $57,858,000 after acquiring an additional 184,449 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of U.S. Silica by 198.3% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,720,901 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $57,839,000 after acquiring an additional 3,138,425 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of U.S. Silica by 90.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,817,279 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $43,173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,811,951 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of U.S. Silica by 49.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,027,823 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $26,034,000 after acquiring an additional 669,534 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of U.S. Silica by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,138,152 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $15,980,000 after acquiring an additional 76,477 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.77% of the company’s stock.

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.