California Public Employees Retirement System Buys 23,835 Shares of Alcoa $AA

Key Points

• CalPERS increased its Alcoa stake by 5.5% in the first quarter, buying 23,835 additional shares to bring its total holding to 460,639 shares worth about $30.6 million.
• Wall Street sentiment is mixed on Alcoa: analysts have an average Hold rating and a consensus price target of $62.73, with several firms recently cutting targets or downgrading the stock.
• Alcoa missed quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of $2.12 versus the $2.25 estimate and revenue of $3.97 billion versus $3.99 billion expected, even as the stock traded up 1.7% to $44.23.

California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Alcoa (NYSE:AA - Free Report) by 5.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 460,639 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 23,835 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.17% of Alcoa worth $30,554,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Alcoa by 211.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,254,017 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $332,338,000 after acquiring an additional 4,247,559 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP bought a new stake in Alcoa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $210,874,000. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Alcoa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $173,412,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alcoa by 153.4% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,134,425 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $219,703,000 after purchasing an additional 2,503,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Alcoa by 247.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,415,697 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $128,370,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721,280 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Alcoa from $80.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Alcoa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Alcoa from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Argus set a $73.00 price target on Alcoa in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $53.00 price target (down from $79.00) on shares of Alcoa in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $62.73.

Alcoa Trading Up 1.7%

AA stock opened at $44.23 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.92. Alcoa has a 1-year low of $28.11 and a 1-year high of $84.38. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.38. The company has a market capitalization of $11.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.10, a PEG ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.63.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 16th. The industrial products company reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.25 by ($0.13). Alcoa had a net margin of 9.48% and a return on equity of 18.90%. The company had revenue of $3.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Alcoa will post 6.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alcoa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. Alcoa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.23%.

Alcoa Profile

Alcoa Corporation is a global industry leader in the production and management of aluminum, offering an integrated value chain that spans bauxite mining, alumina refining, primary aluminum smelting and the fabrication of value-added products. The company's operations are organized into segments that include raw material extraction, chemical processing and the manufacture of metal mill products and engineered solutions.

Alcoa's product portfolio serves diverse end markets such as aerospace, automotive, packaging, construction, electrical and industrial applications.

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