Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the five research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $36.00.

CENX has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Century Aluminum from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Century Aluminum from $37.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Zacks Research raised Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Century Aluminum in a report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

NASDAQ CENX opened at $45.69 on Friday. Century Aluminum has a 52-week low of $13.05 and a 52-week high of $45.74. The company has a fifty day moving average of $33.25 and a 200-day moving average of $27.49. The company has a market capitalization of $4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.75 and a beta of 2.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.71.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.23). Century Aluminum had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 12.83%. The firm had revenue of $632.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $629.85 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Century Aluminum will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CENX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Century Aluminum by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,845,537 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $171,625,000 after buying an additional 75,657 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Century Aluminum by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,665,546 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $66,053,000 after acquiring an additional 426,306 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 340.1% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,733,668 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $31,248,000 after acquiring an additional 1,339,744 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 2.0% during the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,457,401 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,789,000 after acquiring an additional 27,999 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sourcerock Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 612.0% during the second quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC now owns 1,424,088 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,662,000 after acquiring an additional 1,224,088 shares during the last quarter. 61.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Century Aluminum

Century Aluminum Company is a primary aluminum producer that develops and operates smelters designed to supply low-carbon, high-purity aluminum products to a range of industrial and commercial markets. Established in 1995, the company has grown to become a significant North American aluminum producer with an expanding international footprint. Century Aluminum is headquartered in the United States and is focused on energy-efficient operations and cost management.

The company’s core operations include three primary aluminum smelting facilities located in Hawesville, Kentucky; Mount Holly, South Carolina; and Grundartangi, Iceland.