Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Hits New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during 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 traded. The stock had previously closed at $21.05.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of Century Aluminum from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Century Aluminum

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 13,746.2% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,787 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in Century Aluminum by 104.1% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 2,716 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,385 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Century Aluminum by 39.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,347 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,233 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 7,779.8% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 7,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 6,924 shares during the period. Finally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum during the first quarter valued at approximately $161,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.59% of the company’s stock.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.39 and a beta of 2.47. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $15.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last announced its quarterly 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. Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 14.60%. The company had revenue of $539.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.10 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.13) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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.