Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Upgraded at BMO Capital Markets

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) was upgraded by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $22.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 9.04% from the stock’s previous close.

CENX has been the topic of several other reports. B. Riley increased their price objective on shares of Century Aluminum from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Century Aluminum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 9th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Century Aluminum Price Performance

Shares of CENX stock opened at $20.18 on Monday. Century Aluminum has a 52 week low of $9.65 and a 52 week high of $25.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 6.38 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.71. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $19.25 and its 200-day moving average is $18.22.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.97, for a total transaction of $554,739.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 50,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Century Aluminum

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CENX. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 159.2% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 7.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,115 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 2,198 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Century Aluminum by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 411,589 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,499,000 after purchasing an additional 2,358 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in Century Aluminum by 2,889.3% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,511 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 2,427 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 61.59% of the company’s stock.

Century Aluminum Company Profile

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.