Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Stock Price

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) had its target price lifted by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $34.00 to $37.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 12.05% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on CENX. Wall Street Zen cut Century Aluminum from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 3rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Century Aluminum in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. B. Riley lifted their price target on Century Aluminum from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Century Aluminum from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.50.

Century Aluminum Trading Up 13.9%

Shares of Century Aluminum stock traded up $4.04 during trading on Friday, hitting $33.02. The stock had a trading volume of 3,222,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,759,043. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.16. The company has a market capitalization of $3.08 billion, a PE ratio of 28.47 and a beta of 2.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Century Aluminum has a 1 year low of $13.05 and a 1 year high of $34.51.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.23). The firm had revenue of $632.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $629.85 million. Century Aluminum had a net margin of 4.94% and a return on equity of 18.02%. The firm’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Century Aluminum will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Matt Aboud sold 12,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.27, for a total value of $279,868.29. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 62,589 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,456,446.03. This represents a 16.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Agust F. Hafberg sold 9,493 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total value of $264,949.63. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 55,260 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,542,306.60. This represents a 14.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.76% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Century Aluminum

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CENX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Century Aluminum by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,845,537 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $171,625,000 after acquiring an additional 75,657 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Century Aluminum by 13.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,665,546 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $66,053,000 after purchasing an additional 426,306 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 340.1% during the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,733,668 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,248,000 after buying an additional 1,339,744 shares during the last quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 612.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC now owns 1,424,088 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $25,662,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224,088 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Century Aluminum by 0.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,300,691 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $23,443,000 after buying an additional 6,397 shares during the period. 61.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.