Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Shares Gap Down on Disappointing Earnings

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) gapped down prior to trading on Friday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $12.93, but opened at $12.57. Century Aluminum shares last traded at $12.63, with a volume of 287,167 shares.

The industrial products company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.05). Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 4.27% and a net margin of 10.72%. The firm had revenue of $560.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $530.90 million.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CENX. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Century Aluminum from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com cut Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Century Aluminum

In other Century Aluminum news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.21, for a total value of $972,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 62,447 shares in the company, valued at $1,012,265.87. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 30.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,186,243 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $19,870,000 after purchasing an additional 276,304 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 102.9% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 91,886 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 46,598 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 104.1% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 2,716 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,385 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 4.4% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 162,798 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,727,000 after purchasing an additional 6,886 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 43.2% during the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 15,242 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 4,598 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.59% of the company’s stock.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $16.42 and a 200-day moving average of $14.97. The stock has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 2.52.

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.