Bank of America Upgrades Sigma Lithium (NASDAQ:SGML) to Buy

Sigma Lithium (NASDAQ:SGML) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $17.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $14.00. Bank of America‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 18.30% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also commented on SGML. Citigroup lowered Sigma Lithium from an “overweight” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of Sigma Lithium in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Sigma Lithium from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Sigma Lithium in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sigma Lithium has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.50.

Sigma Lithium Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SGML opened at $14.37 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.93, a PEG ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.04. Sigma Lithium has a 12 month low of $4.25 and a 12 month high of $16.88. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38.

Sigma Lithium (NASDAQ:SGML) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 30th. The company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.12) by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $16.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.20 million. Sigma Lithium had a negative return on equity of 53.45% and a negative net margin of 45.64%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sigma Lithium will post -0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Sigma Lithium

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Sigma Lithium by 142.8% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,606,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,529,000 after acquiring an additional 2,709,397 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Sigma Lithium in the second quarter valued at approximately $11,250,000. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Sigma Lithium by 101.7% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,647,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,911,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334,772 shares during the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sigma Lithium during the 4th quarter worth approximately $16,463,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB bought a new stake in shares of Sigma Lithium during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,130,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.86% of the company’s stock.

Sigma Lithium Company Profile

Sigma Lithium Corp. is a Canada-based mineral exploration and development company focused on the sustainable production of battery-grade lithium from hard rock deposits. The company’s flagship asset is the Grota do Cirilo lithium project, located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Grota do Cirilo comprises a fully permitted, low-altitude spodumene mine and processing plant designed to produce high-purity lithium concentrate and downstream lithium hydroxide for the global electric vehicle and energy storage markets.

Since its founding in 2018, Sigma Lithium has pursued a vertically integrated approach, overseeing each stage of production from ore extraction and beneficiation to chemical conversion.