Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Upgraded to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks reports.

CENX has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Century Aluminum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Century Aluminum in a report on Monday. B. Riley Financial reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Century Aluminum in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Century Aluminum from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on Century Aluminum in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.60.

Century Aluminum Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:CENX opened at $33.50 on Monday. Century Aluminum has a 12 month low of $25.40 and a 12 month high of $70.43. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $41.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.79 and a beta of 2.07.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $2.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.33 by $0.13. Century Aluminum had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 33.83%. The firm had revenue of $752.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $817.15 million. The business’s revenue was up 59.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Century Aluminum will post 7.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CENX. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Century Aluminum in the 2nd quarter valued at about $474,129,000. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 210.4% during the 1st quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,551,362 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $91,049,000 after buying an additional 1,051,525 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 109.7% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,830,324 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $107,422,000 after buying an additional 957,571 shares during the last quarter. Kinetic Partners Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum during the second quarter worth approximately $35,736,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum during the second quarter worth approximately $27,709,000. 61.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Century Aluminum

Century Aluminum Company is a producer of primary aluminum. The company operates aluminum smelters that convert alumina into aluminum metal, supplying standard-grade and value-added products used in transportation, construction, packaging, aerospace, and other industrial applications.

Century Aluminum’s operations are located in the United States and Iceland. Its U.S. facilities include the Sebree smelter in Kentucky and the Mt. Holly smelter in South Carolina, while its Icelandic operations are based at the Grundartangi aluminum smelter.