Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Shares Gap Up - Here's What Happened

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $15.49, but opened at $19.17. Century Aluminum shares last traded at $19.69, with a volume of 1,795,882 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CENX. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Century Aluminum from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Century Aluminum from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $22.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.71. The company has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 2.54. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $16.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.71.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.25). Century Aluminum had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 13.38%. The company had revenue of $633.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $643.80 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Century Aluminum will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Century Aluminum

In other Century Aluminum news, CAO Robert F. Hoffman sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.99, for a total value of $49,975.00. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.68% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CENX. Jones Financial Companies Lllp bought a new position in shares of Century Aluminum during the first quarter valued at $25,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Century Aluminum during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 2,889.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 261.8% during the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 4,020 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 2,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 13.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,418 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $101,000 after acquiring an additional 628 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.59% of the company's stock.

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.