Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 8,000 Kaiser Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ:KALU)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Kaiser Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ:KALU - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 8,000 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $570,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KALU. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Kaiser Aluminum during the fourth quarter worth about $51,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Kaiser Aluminum by 16.4% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Kaiser Aluminum by 50.2% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 2,756 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $207,000 after acquiring an additional 921 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Kaiser Aluminum by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,927 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH increased its stake in Kaiser Aluminum by 8.3% during the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 6,383 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $480,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kaiser Aluminum Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of KALU stock traded up $0.23 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $95.15. The company had a trading volume of 155,790 shares, compared to its average volume of 150,013. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 2.66. Kaiser Aluminum Co. has a twelve month low of $53.67 and a twelve month high of $96.41. The company has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.66 and a beta of 1.38. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $82.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.23.

Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ:KALU - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.44. Kaiser Aluminum had a return on equity of 8.40% and a net margin of 1.85%. The business had revenue of $738.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $733.34 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.99 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Kaiser Aluminum Co. will post 3.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kaiser Aluminum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 24th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. Kaiser Aluminum's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 89.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on KALU. UBS Group began coverage on Kaiser Aluminum in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $67.00 price target for the company. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and set a $84.00 price target on shares of Kaiser Aluminum in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Kaiser Aluminum from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $77.00.

About Kaiser Aluminum

Kaiser Aluminum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in manufacture and sale of semi-fabricated specialty aluminum mill products in the United States and internationally. It offers rolled, extruded, and drawn aluminum products used for aerospace and defense, aluminum beverage and food packaging, automotive and general engineering products.