Century Aluminum Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:CENX)

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 5,803 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 286% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,502 call options.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

Shares of Century Aluminum stock opened at $21.76 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 billion, a PE ratio of 7.28 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.73. Century Aluminum has a one year low of $9.65 and a one year high of $25.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Century Aluminum news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.97, for a total value 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 approximately $962,784.41. This represents a 36.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. AlphaQuest LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 2,427 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum in the 4th quarter worth $54,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Century Aluminum by 159.2% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Century Aluminum by 39.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,347 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 1,233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Century Aluminum in the fourth quarter valued at about $199,000. Institutional investors own 61.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CENX has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Century Aluminum from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of Century Aluminum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 9th. B. Riley lifted 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. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Century Aluminum from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

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.