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

Shares of Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) dropped 3.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $19.49 and last traded at $19.41. Approximately 724,777 shares traded hands during 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.99, for a total value of $49,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 64,083 shares in the company, valued at $1,281,019.17. This trade represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CENX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Century Aluminum from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Century Aluminum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Century Aluminum from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

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 stock has a market cap of $1.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.36 and a beta of 2.67. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.71.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last released 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. The company had revenue of $631.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Century Aluminum will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in Century Aluminum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in Century Aluminum by 2,889.3% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,511 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 2,427 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in Century Aluminum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Century Aluminum by 159.2% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in shares of Century Aluminum during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $189,000. 61.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.