Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Friday morning.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on CENX. Wolfe Research raised shares of Century Aluminum from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised Century Aluminum from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th.

Century Aluminum Stock Up 3.3 %

Century Aluminum stock opened at $18.67 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a PE ratio of 5.91 and a beta of 2.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.71. Century Aluminum has a fifty-two week low of $11.12 and a fifty-two week high of $25.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $19.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.40.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Century Aluminum news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 50,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $962,784.41. This trade represents a 36.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Century Aluminum

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Century Aluminum during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. AlphaQuest LLC grew its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 2,889.3% in the 4th 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 period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Century Aluminum in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Century Aluminum by 159.2% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olympiad Research LP acquired a new position in Century Aluminum during the third quarter worth $180,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.59% of the company’s stock.

About Century Aluminum

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.