Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. B. Riley upgraded Century Aluminum from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $10.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Century Aluminum from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday.

Century Aluminum Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CENX traded up $0.53 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $16.81. 1,228,752 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,470,581. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a PE ratio of 7.71 and a beta of 2.67. The business’s fifty day moving average is $14.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Century Aluminum has a one year low of $5.70 and a one year high of $18.64.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $512.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $514.40 million. Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 4.27% and a net margin of 10.72%. As a group, analysts predict that Century Aluminum will post -0.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CENX. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its stake in Century Aluminum by 314.4% in the 1st quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 109,004 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,678,000 after purchasing an additional 82,703 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Century Aluminum during the 1st quarter worth $161,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 43.4% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 230,860 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,553,000 after acquiring an additional 69,910 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Century Aluminum by 3.0% in the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 105,105 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,618,000 after purchasing an additional 3,100 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Century Aluminum by 74.6% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 235,578 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,626,000 after acquiring an additional 100,639 shares in the last quarter. 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.