Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 82,073 Shares of Alcoa Co. (NYSE:AA)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Alcoa Co. (NYSE:AA) by 43.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 271,276 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 82,073 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Alcoa were worth $11,361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AA. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Alcoa during the second quarter worth about $27,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Alcoa by 481.7% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 762 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in Alcoa by 1,501.9% during the first quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,698 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in Alcoa by 15.1% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Alcoa during the first quarter worth about $101,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AA shares. B. Riley Financial restated a “neutral” rating and set a $41.00 price objective on shares of Alcoa in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Alcoa from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alcoa from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Alcoa from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Alcoa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alcoa

In other Alcoa news, EVP Renato Bacchi sold 23,867 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.29, for a total transaction of $1,009,335.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,317 shares in the company, valued at $2,423,935.93. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Alcoa Stock Up 5.0 %

NYSE AA opened at $42.78 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Alcoa Co. has a 1-year low of $23.80 and a 1-year high of $45.48. The company has a 50 day moving average of $36.82 and a 200-day moving average of $37.19. The company has a market cap of $11.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.31, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 2.42.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The industrial products company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.34. Alcoa had a negative net margin of 2.65% and a negative return on equity of 1.45%. The company had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.14) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alcoa Co. will post 0.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alcoa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 29th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 29th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. Alcoa’s dividend payout ratio is currently -22.73%.

Alcoa Profile

Alcoa Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells bauxite, alumina, and aluminum products in the United States, Spain, Australia, Iceland, Norway, Brazil, Canada, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Alumina and Aluminum. It engages in bauxite mining operations; and processes bauxite into alumina and sells it to customers who process it into industrial chemical products, as well as aluminum smelting and casting businesses.