Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Shares Gap Up to $15.91

Shares of Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $15.91, but opened at $16.45. Century Aluminum shares last traded at $16.86, with a volume of 94,700 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Century Aluminum from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com cut Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd.

Century Aluminum Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.68 and a beta of 2.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company has a 50 day moving average of $17.04 and a 200 day moving average of $13.91.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported ($0.39) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.19) by ($0.20). Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 4.27% and a net margin of 10.72%. The business had revenue of $489.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $520.30 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Century Aluminum will post 0.62 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Century Aluminum news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.21, for a total transaction of $972,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,447 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,012,265.87. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Century Aluminum

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Century Aluminum by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,819,805 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $89,567,000 after purchasing an additional 39,900 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Century Aluminum by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,243,573 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,380,000 after purchasing an additional 42,167 shares in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP increased its stake in Century Aluminum by 1,147.0% in the 1st quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 976,894 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,034,000 after purchasing an additional 898,554 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Century Aluminum by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 867,514 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,532,000 after purchasing an additional 76,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Century Aluminum by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 850,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,321,000 after purchasing an additional 48,631 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.