Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Position in Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) by 10.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 539,161 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,770 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.58% of Century Aluminum worth $9,824,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC grew its holdings in Century Aluminum by 1,607.1% in the third quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 22,849,097 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $370,841,000 after purchasing an additional 21,510,639 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Century Aluminum by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,279,772 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $20,774,000 after purchasing an additional 13,486 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Century Aluminum by 49.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 959,033 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $15,565,000 after purchasing an additional 319,164 shares during the period. Impala Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Century Aluminum by 6.4% in the third quarter. Impala Asset Management LLC now owns 904,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,672,000 after purchasing an additional 54,000 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Century Aluminum by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 347,045 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,323,000 after purchasing an additional 19,129 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.59% of the company’s stock.

Century Aluminum Trading Down 3.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ CENX opened at $19.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.78 billion, a PE ratio of 6.11 and a beta of 2.67. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $19.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.78. Century Aluminum has a 52-week low of $11.40 and a 52-week high of $25.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.71.

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

Insider Activity at Century Aluminum

In related news, CAO Robert F. Hoffman sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.99, for a total transaction of $49,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 64,083 shares in the company, valued at $1,281,019.17. This represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.97, for a total transaction of $554,739.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 50,753 shares in the company, valued at approximately $962,784.41. This trade represents a 36.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CENX has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th.

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.