Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Trading 7% Higher – Still a Buy?

Shares of Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) traded up 7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $18.18 and last traded at $17.75. 768,714 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 1,734,434 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.59.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CENX has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Century Aluminum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Century Aluminum from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, 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 research report on Monday, February 24th.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $19.22 and its 200-day moving average is $18.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.81 and a beta of 2.67.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The industrial products company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.05. Century Aluminum had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 13.38%. The business had revenue of $631.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $515.27 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Century Aluminum will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Century Aluminum news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.97, for a total value of $554,739.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 50,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $962,784.41. This represents a 36.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CENX. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Century Aluminum during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 2,889.3% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,511 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 2,427 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Century Aluminum during the fourth quarter worth about $54,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Century Aluminum by 159.2% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corton Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Century Aluminum in the 4th quarter worth approximately $189,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.59% of the company’s stock.

About Century Aluminum

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.