Brokerages Set Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX) Price Target at $57.00

Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $57.00.

A number of equities analysts have commented on CENX shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Century Aluminum in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. B. Riley Financial lifted their target price on Century Aluminum from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Century Aluminum from $61.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CENX opened at $62.57 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Century Aluminum has a twelve month low of $13.05 and a twelve month high of $64.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 156.43 and a beta of 1.99.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.25. The company had revenue of $633.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $661.63 million. Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 5.57% and a net margin of 1.65%.The firm’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Century Aluminum will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Century Aluminum

In other Century Aluminum news, CAO Robert F. Hoffman sold 10,529 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.51, for a total transaction of $594,993.79. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 56,643 shares in the company, valued at $3,200,895.93. This represents a 15.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.47, for a total value of $8,320,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 142,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,908,912.60. This represents a 51.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 401,626 shares of company stock worth $20,847,911 over the last three months. 0.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Century Aluminum

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Glencore plc increased its position in Century Aluminum by 33.6% in the 4th quarter. Glencore plc now owns 53,511,894 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,096,596,000 after acquiring an additional 13,454,538 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Century Aluminum by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,939,794 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $271,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,094,257 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Century Aluminum by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,295,711 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $168,306,000 after buying an additional 77,895 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in Century Aluminum by 340.1% in 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,609,093 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $63,044,000 after buying an additional 176,730 shares in the last quarter. 61.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Century Aluminum

Century Aluminum Company is a primary aluminum producer that develops and operates smelters designed to supply low-carbon, high-purity aluminum products to a range of industrial and commercial markets. Established in 1995, the company has grown to become a significant North American aluminum producer with an expanding international footprint. Century Aluminum is headquartered in the United States and is focused on energy-efficient operations and cost management.

The company’s core operations include three primary aluminum smelting facilities located in Hawesville, Kentucky; Mount Holly, South Carolina; and Grundartangi, Iceland.