Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Shares Down 3.4% on Insider Selling

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX)’s share price dropped 3.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $19.49 and last traded at $19.41. Approximately 724,777 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 46% from the average daily volume of 1,339,785 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.08.

Specifically, CAO Robert F. Hoffman sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.99, for a total transaction of $49,975.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 64,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,281,019.17. The trade was a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CENX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised Century Aluminum from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. 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 research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Century Aluminum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th.

Century Aluminum Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.70. 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 $1.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 2.67.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The industrial products company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Century Aluminum will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

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

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.