Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX) Given Average Rating of "Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Century Aluminum has an average analyst rating of "Buy" from five brokerages, with four buy ratings and one strong-buy rating. The average 1-year target price is $80.00.
• Recent analyst actions were mostly positive, including upgrades from Weiss Ratings, Zacks Research, and Wall Street Zen, while Wells Fargo raised its price target to $79 and kept an overweight rating.
• Insiders have been selling shares recently, including CEO Jesse E. Gary and CAO Robert F. Hoffman, with 251,626 shares sold by insiders over the last 90 days. Despite that, institutional investors such as Glencore and Vanguard increased their holdings, and institutions own 61.59% of the stock.

Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Buy" from the five brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $80.00.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Century Aluminum from a "hold (c)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets set a $75.00 target price on Century Aluminum and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research raised Century Aluminum from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen raised Century Aluminum from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Century Aluminum from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th.

Insider Transactions at Century Aluminum

In related news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.47, for a total value of $8,320,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 142,580 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,908,912.60. This represents a 51.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Robert F. Hoffman sold 10,529 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.51, for a total value of $594,993.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 56,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,200,895.93. This trade represents a 15.67% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 251,626 shares of company stock worth $13,619,411 in the last ninety days. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Glencore plc lifted its holdings in Century Aluminum by 33.6% during the fourth quarter. Glencore plc now owns 53,511,894 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,096,596,000 after buying an additional 13,454,538 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Century Aluminum by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,939,794 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $271,901,000 after buying an additional 1,094,257 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,295,711 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $168,306,000 after purchasing an additional 77,895 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 109.7% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,830,324 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $107,422,000 after purchasing an additional 957,571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,609,093 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $63,044,000 after purchasing an additional 176,730 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.59% of the company's stock.

Century Aluminum Trading Down 7.5%

Shares of NASDAQ CENX opened at $56.82 on Friday. The business's 50 day moving average is $58.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.30 and a quick ratio of 1.36. Century Aluminum has a 1-year low of $15.13 and a 1-year high of $68.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.96 and a beta of 1.91.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.25. Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 13.59% and a net margin of 13.75%.The company had revenue of $633.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $661.63 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.49 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Century Aluminum will post 10.3 EPS for the current year.

Century Aluminum Company Profile

Century Aluminum Company is a primary aluminum producer that develops and operates smelters designed to supply low-carbon, high-purity aluminum products to a range of industrial and commercial markets. Established in 1995, the company has grown to become a significant North American aluminum producer with an expanding international footprint. Century Aluminum is headquartered in the United States and is focused on energy-efficient operations and cost management.

The company's core operations include three primary aluminum smelting facilities located in Hawesville, Kentucky; Mount Holly, South Carolina; and Grundartangi, Iceland.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.