New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 2,682 Shares of Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX)

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its stake in shares of Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 91,068 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,682 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.10% of Century Aluminum worth $1,659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 49.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 959,033 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,565,000 after buying an additional 319,164 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 266.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 97,396 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,581,000 after buying an additional 70,825 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 17.0% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 301,992 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,901,000 after purchasing an additional 43,881 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Century Aluminum during the fourth quarter worth about $337,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 16.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 621,300 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,084,000 after purchasing an additional 89,621 shares in the last quarter. 61.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 50,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $962,784.41. This represents a 36.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CENX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. B. Riley boosted their price objective on Century Aluminum from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wolfe Research raised Century Aluminum from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com raised Century Aluminum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Century Aluminum from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Century Aluminum Price Performance

Shares of Century Aluminum stock opened at $17.38 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of 5.50 and a beta of 2.50. The business has a 50 day moving average of $19.27 and a 200 day moving average of $18.08. Century Aluminum has a 52 week low of $9.65 and a 52 week high of $25.39.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The industrial products company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.05. The business 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. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Century Aluminum will post 2.76 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.