Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Hits New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $68.70 and last traded at $67.9250, with a volume of 1503930 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.72.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CENX shares. B. Riley Financial upped their price objective on shares of Century Aluminum from $68.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Century Aluminum from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $80.00.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $6.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.17 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.39.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Century Aluminum news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.47, for a total transaction of $8,320,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 142,580 shares in the company, valued at $7,908,912.60. This represents a 51.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Robert F. Hoffman sold 10,529 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.51, for a total transaction of $594,993.79. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 56,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,200,895.93. This trade represents a 15.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 185,626 shares of company stock worth $10,271,891 in the last ninety days. 0.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Century Aluminum

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Glencore plc raised its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 33.6% in the 4th quarter. Glencore plc now owns 53,511,894 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,096,596,000 after purchasing an additional 13,454,538 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,939,794 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $271,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,094,257 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,295,711 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $168,306,000 after purchasing an additional 77,895 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 109.7% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,830,324 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $107,422,000 after purchasing an additional 957,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,609,093 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $63,044,000 after purchasing an additional 176,730 shares in the last quarter. 61.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Century Aluminum Company Profile

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.