Century Aluminum Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:CENX)

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 8,821 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 965% compared to the average volume of 828 call options.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Century Aluminum in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $521,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 6.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $524,000 after acquiring an additional 2,045 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 1,147.0% in the first quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 976,894 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $15,034,000 after acquiring an additional 898,554 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 13,746.2% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,819,805 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $89,567,000 after acquiring an additional 39,900 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on CENX. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Century Aluminum from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd.

Century Aluminum Trading Up 13.6 %

Shares of Century Aluminum stock opened at $18.93 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $17.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.06. Century Aluminum has a 12-month low of $5.70 and a 12-month high of $19.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 billion, a PE ratio of 8.68 and a beta of 2.52.

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

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.