Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Hits New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $16.00 to $18.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the stock. Century Aluminum traded as high as $22.29 and last traded at $22.29, with a volume of 805694 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.05.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on CENX. B. Riley increased their target price on Century Aluminum from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st.

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 43.4% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 230,860 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,553,000 after acquiring an additional 69,910 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum during the first quarter worth $161,000. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 2.5% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 45,288 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Century Aluminum in the first quarter valued at about $601,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in Century Aluminum by 7,779.8% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 7,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 6,924 shares in the last quarter. 61.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Century Aluminum Trading Up 4.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 1.72. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.35 and a beta of 2.47. The company’s 50-day moving average is $15.67 and its 200-day moving average is $16.21.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $539.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.10 million. Century Aluminum had a net margin of 10.32% and a negative return on equity of 0.04%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.13) earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Century Aluminum will post 0.07 earnings per share for the current year.

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.