Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $17.38, but opened at $18.31. Century Aluminum shares last traded at $18.62, with a volume of 716,885 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CENX. B. Riley raised their price objective on Century Aluminum from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised Century Aluminum from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Century Aluminum from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.39 and a beta of 2.50. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $19.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.22.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The industrial products company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $631.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $515.27 million. Century Aluminum had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 13.38%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Century Aluminum will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.97, for a total value of $554,739.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 50,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $962,784.41. This represents a 36.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Century Aluminum during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 2,889.3% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,511 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 2,427 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Century Aluminum during the 4th quarter valued at about $54,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 159.2% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olympiad Research LP purchased a new stake in Century Aluminum during the third quarter valued at $180,000. Institutional investors own 61.59% of the company’s stock.

Century Aluminum Company Profile

Century Aluminum Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production of standard-grade and value-added primary aluminum products in the United States and Iceland. It also owns and operates an alumina production facility in Iceland, and a carbon anode production facility in the Netherlands.