Alcoa (NYSE:AA) Raised to "Buy" at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alcoa (NYSE:AA - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Alcoa from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on shares of Alcoa to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $31.00 price target on shares of Alcoa in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Bank of America reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $26.00 price target (down from $58.00) on shares of Alcoa in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Alcoa to $31.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alcoa has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $42.50.

Alcoa Price Performance

AA stock traded down $0.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $28.35. The company had a trading volume of 3,200,504 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,574,435. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -177.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 2.27. The business has a 50 day moving average of $26.53 and a 200 day moving average of $32.81. Alcoa has a fifty-two week low of $21.53 and a fifty-two week high of $47.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The industrial products company reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.42. Alcoa had a net margin of 0.50% and a return on equity of 5.54%. The firm had revenue of $3.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.58 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Alcoa will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Alcoa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Alcoa's dividend payout ratio is 12.05%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alcoa

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alcoa by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,979,129 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $981,491,000 after purchasing an additional 165,420 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alcoa in the 4th quarter valued at about $259,273,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Alcoa by 33.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,803,086 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $207,490,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721,222 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alcoa by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,232,766 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $159,966,000 after purchasing an additional 39,022 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alcoa by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,550,861 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $96,372,000 after purchasing an additional 192,078 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.39% of the company's stock.

Alcoa Company Profile

Alcoa Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells bauxite, alumina, and aluminum products in the United States, Spain, Australia, Iceland, Norway, Brazil, Canada, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Alumina and Aluminum. It engages in bauxite mining operations; and processes bauxite into alumina and sells it to customers who process it into industrial chemical products, as well as aluminum smelting and casting businesses.