Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CENX. 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. BMO Capital Markets raised Century Aluminum from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th.

Century Aluminum Stock Up 3.3 %

Shares of CENX stock opened at $18.67 on Friday. Century Aluminum has a 1-year low of $11.12 and a 1-year high of $25.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $19.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The company has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.91 and a beta of 2.67.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $962,784.41. This represents a 36.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum in the fourth quarter valued at $2,197,000. Perennial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Century Aluminum in the fourth quarter valued at $535,000. Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new stake in Century Aluminum in the fourth quarter valued at $225,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in Century Aluminum by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 131,183 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,390,000 after buying an additional 13,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in Century Aluminum by 44.5% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 15,893 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $290,000 after buying an additional 4,896 shares in the last quarter. 61.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.