Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Hits New 12-Month High at $20.70

Shares of Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $20.70 and last traded at $20.69, with a volume of 297846 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $18.93.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on CENX shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Century Aluminum from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 1.67. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $17.15 and its 200-day moving average is $14.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.26 and a beta of 2.52.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported ($0.39) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by ($0.20). Century Aluminum had a net margin of 10.72% and a return on equity of 4.27%. The firm had revenue of $489.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $520.30 million. Analysts forecast that Century Aluminum will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Century Aluminum news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.21, for a total transaction of $972,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,447 shares in the company, valued at $1,012,265.87. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Century Aluminum

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 2.5% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 45,288 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 1,102 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 13,746.2% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 1,787 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 199.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,878 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 1,918 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 6.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $524,000 after buying an additional 2,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 33,530 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $407,000 after buying an additional 2,680 shares during the last quarter. 61.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.