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

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

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

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

CENX traded up $0.53 during trading on Friday, reaching $16.81. 1,228,752 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,470,581. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.71 and a beta of 2.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $14.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.06. Century Aluminum has a fifty-two week low of $5.70 and a fifty-two week high of $18.64.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last issued 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. Century Aluminum had a net margin of 10.72% and a return on equity of 4.27%. The business had revenue of $512.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $514.40 million. As a group, analysts predict that Century Aluminum will post -0.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Century Aluminum

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CENX. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,243,573 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,380,000 after purchasing an additional 42,167 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 9.3% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,395,589 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,034,000 after buying an additional 118,234 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in Century Aluminum by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 867,514 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,532,000 after purchasing an additional 76,000 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Century Aluminum by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 850,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,321,000 after acquiring an additional 48,631 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Century Aluminum by 255.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 350,739 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,522,000 after buying an additional 252,095 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 61.59% of the company’s stock.

Century Aluminum Company Profile

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.