Ero Copper Corp. (NYSE:ERO) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Ero Copper Corp. (NYSE:ERO - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,110,000 shares, a growth of 21.5% from the December 31st total of 2,560,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 377,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.2 days. Approximately 3.3% of the company's shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on ERO. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Ero Copper in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $19.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of Ero Copper from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $26.33.

Institutional Trading of Ero Copper

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Ero Copper by 32.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 464,047 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,922,000 after acquiring an additional 115,002 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in Ero Copper in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Ero Copper by 3.1% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 136,990 shares of the company's stock worth $3,051,000 after buying an additional 4,097 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ero Copper in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $670,000. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ero Copper during the third quarter valued at approximately $457,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.30% of the company's stock.

Ero Copper Price Performance

NYSE:ERO traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $13.63. 174,535 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 395,793. The business's 50-day moving average price is $14.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Ero Copper has a 12-month low of $12.78 and a 12-month high of $24.34. The company has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a PE ratio of 80.21 and a beta of 1.14.

Ero Copper (NYSE:ERO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $124.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.80 million. Ero Copper had a return on equity of 11.30% and a net margin of 3.67%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.18 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ero Copper will post 0.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Ero Copper

Ero Copper Corp. engages in the exploration, development, and production of mining projects in Brazil. The company is involved in the production and sale of copper concentrate from the Caraíba operations located in the Curaçá Valley, northeastern Bahia state, Brazil, as well as gold and silver by-products.