Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Alcoa Call Options (NYSE:AA)

Alcoa Co. (NYSE:AA) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 39,703 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 118% compared to the average volume of 18,245 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in shares of Alcoa by 41.6% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 313,822 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,107,000 after buying an additional 92,201 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV acquired a new position in Alcoa in the 3rd quarter valued at $10,201,000. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its stake in Alcoa by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 1,421,955 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $54,859,000 after buying an additional 27,217 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Alcoa by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 628,116 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $24,233,000 after buying an additional 36,869 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP raised its stake in shares of Alcoa by 73.0% during the 3rd quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 36,848 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,422,000 after buying an additional 15,546 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Alcoa to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Alcoa from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Alcoa from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Argus upgraded Alcoa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Alcoa from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.36.

Alcoa Trading Down 4.0 %

Alcoa stock traded down $1.57 during trading on Thursday, hitting $37.21. The company had a trading volume of 6,731,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,986,689. Alcoa has a 1-year low of $24.86 and a 1-year high of $47.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.70. The stock has a market cap of $9.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.16 and a beta of 2.47.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.13. Alcoa had a negative net margin of 2.65% and a negative return on equity of 1.45%. As a group, analysts expect that Alcoa will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alcoa Company Profile

Alcoa Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells bauxite, alumina, and aluminum products in the United States, Spain, Australia, Iceland, Norway, Brazil, Canada, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Alumina and Aluminum. It engages in bauxite mining operations; and processes bauxite into alumina and sells it to customers who process it into industrial chemical products, as well as aluminum smelting and casting businesses.