Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $79.3333.

A number of research firms recently commented on CENX. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Century Aluminum from $69.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Century Aluminum in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets set a $75.00 price objective on Century Aluminum and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. B. Riley Financial lifted their target price on Century Aluminum from $68.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Century Aluminum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Century Aluminum news, CAO Robert F. Hoffman sold 10,529 shares of Century Aluminum stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.51, for a total transaction of $594,993.79. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 56,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,200,895.93. The trade was a 15.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Matt Aboud sold 12,126 shares of Century Aluminum stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.50, for a total value of $636,615.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 67,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,560,235. This represents a 15.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 401,626 shares of company stock valued at $20,847,911. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Century Aluminum

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CENX. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,385,000. OP Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,038,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 109.7% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,830,324 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $107,422,000 after purchasing an additional 957,571 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,121,000. Finally, Beartown Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,959,000. 61.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Century Aluminum Trading Down 1.5%

NASDAQ CENX opened at $61.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.98. The company has a market capitalization of $6.07 billion, a PE ratio of 153.33 and a beta of 1.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.97, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Century Aluminum has a 12 month low of $14.77 and a 12 month high of $68.69.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25. The business had revenue of $633.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $661.63 million. Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 5.57% and a net margin of 1.65%.The firm’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Century Aluminum will post 6.72 EPS for the current year.

About Century Aluminum

Century Aluminum Company is a primary aluminum producer that develops and operates smelters designed to supply low-carbon, high-purity aluminum products to a range of industrial and commercial markets. Established in 1995, the company has grown to become a significant North American aluminum producer with an expanding international footprint. Century Aluminum is headquartered in the United States and is focused on energy-efficient operations and cost management.

The company’s core operations include three primary aluminum smelting facilities located in Hawesville, Kentucky; Mount Holly, South Carolina; and Grundartangi, Iceland.