Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Raised to Hold at StockNews.com

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Century Aluminum from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Wolfe Research raised Century Aluminum from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CENX opened at $18.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.71. The firm has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a PE ratio of 5.91 and a beta of 2.67. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $19.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.45. Century Aluminum has a fifty-two week low of $11.12 and a fifty-two week high of $25.39.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The industrial products company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $631.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $515.27 million. Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 13.38% and a net margin of 14.69%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Century Aluminum will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Century Aluminum

In other news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.97, for a total value of $554,739.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 50,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $962,784.41. The trade was a 36.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Century Aluminum during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in Century Aluminum by 2,889.3% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,511 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 2,427 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Century Aluminum during the 4th quarter valued at about $54,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Century Aluminum by 159.2% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olympiad Research LP acquired a new position in Century Aluminum during the 3rd quarter valued at about $180,000. 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.