Insider Selling: Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) CEO Sells 150,000 Shares of Stock

Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX) CEO Jesse Gary sold 150,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total transaction of $7,228,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 292,580 shares in the company, valued at $14,099,430.20. The trade was a 33.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Century Aluminum Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:CENX traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $48.71. 2,029,727 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,797,792. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.31 and a beta of 2.26. Century Aluminum Company has a twelve month low of $13.05 and a twelve month high of $50.16. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $36.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.71.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.23). Century Aluminum had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 12.83%. The company had revenue of $632.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $629.85 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Century Aluminum Company will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in Century Aluminum by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 30,604 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,198,000 after buying an additional 441 shares during the period. Choreo LLC bought a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Glencore plc raised its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 33.6% during the fourth quarter. Glencore plc now owns 53,511,894 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,096,596,000 after purchasing an additional 13,454,538 shares during the period. Drummond Knight Asset Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Century Aluminum during the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,278,000. Finally, Sheets Smith Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 56.8% in the 4th quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management now owns 14,657 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $574,000 after purchasing an additional 5,308 shares in the last quarter. 61.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CENX shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Century Aluminum from $46.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Century Aluminum from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Century Aluminum in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Century Aluminum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Century Aluminum has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.00.

About Century Aluminum

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.