Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Trading 5.4% Higher

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) shares shot up 5.4% on Monday . The company traded as high as $17.74 and last traded at $17.71. 138,587 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 1,454,657 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.81.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CENX. B. Riley raised Century Aluminum from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $10.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. StockNews.com cut Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on 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

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 2.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.19.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by $0.53. Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 4.27% and a net margin of 10.72%. The firm had revenue of $512.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $514.40 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Century Aluminum will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Century Aluminum

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Century Aluminum by 92.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 791,514 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,691,000 after purchasing an additional 380,324 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Century Aluminum in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,992,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Century Aluminum by 255.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 252,095 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Century Aluminum in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,146,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Century Aluminum in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,058,000. 61.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.