StockNews.com Downgrades Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) to Sell

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Monday.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Century Aluminum from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

Shares of CENX stock opened at $18.60 on Monday. Century Aluminum has a fifty-two week low of $11.40 and a fifty-two week high of $25.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $19.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.89 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $631.00 million for 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 company posted $0.39 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Century Aluminum will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Century Aluminum

In other Century Aluminum news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 50,753 shares in the company, valued at $962,784.41. This represents a 36.56 % 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. Also, CAO Robert F. Hoffman sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.99, for a total value of $49,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 64,083 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,281,019.17. This represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CENX. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in Century Aluminum by 2,889.3% in the 4th 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 during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Century Aluminum in the 4th quarter valued at $54,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Century Aluminum by 159.2% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corton Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Century Aluminum during the 4th quarter worth about $189,000. 61.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.