Swiss National Bank Purchases 3,500 Shares of U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SLCA)

Swiss National Bank boosted its position in U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SLCA – Get Rating) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 182,500 shares of the mining company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.24% of U.S. Silica worth $2,281,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SLCA. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of U.S. Silica by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,962,148 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $141,934,000 after buying an additional 107,466 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of U.S. Silica by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,443,977 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $70,562,000 after buying an additional 422,719 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of U.S. Silica by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,825,633 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $43,689,000 after buying an additional 269,677 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of U.S. Silica by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,758,098 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $41,153,000 after buying an additional 198,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of U.S. Silica by 52.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,478,513 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $27,589,000 after buying an additional 508,648 shares in the last quarter. 82.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at U.S. Silica

In related news, CEO Bryan Adair Shinn sold 58,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.99, for a total transaction of $818,401.01. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,460,684 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,434,969.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

U.S. Silica Stock Performance

NYSE SLCA opened at $12.75 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $12.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.29. U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.47 and a 12 month high of $19.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $982.52 million, a PE ratio of 7.63 and a beta of 2.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

U.S. Silica (NYSE:SLCA – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The mining company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.18. U.S. Silica had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 7.89%. The firm had revenue of $442.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.02) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 45.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. will post 1.8 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised U.S. Silica from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 12th. Citigroup upped their target price on U.S. Silica from $13.50 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on U.S. Silica from $17.00 to $18.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.00.

U.S. Silica Profile

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U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc engages in the provision of commercial silica products. It operates through the following segments: Oil and Gas Proppants, and Industrial and Specialty Products. The Oil and Gas Proppants segment focuses on delivering fracturing sand, which is pumped down oil and natural gas wells to prop open rock fissures and increase the flow rate of natural gas and oil from the wells.