Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) shares gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $17.38, but opened at $18.31. Century Aluminum shares last traded at $18.62, with a volume of 716,885 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on CENX shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Century Aluminum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 9th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Century Aluminum from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Century Aluminum from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, B. Riley raised their price objective on Century Aluminum from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th.

Century Aluminum Stock Up 8.7 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $1.75 billion, a PE ratio of 5.95 and a beta of 2.50. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.12.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The industrial products company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $631.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $515.27 million. Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 13.38% and a net margin of 14.69%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Century Aluminum will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.97, for a total transaction of $554,739.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 50,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $962,784.41. This represents a 36.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Glencore plc purchased a new position in Century Aluminum in the 4th quarter worth $729,427,000. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 1,607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 22,849,097 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $370,841,000 after buying an additional 21,510,639 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,937,970 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,531,000 after buying an additional 28,557 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Century Aluminum by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,067,234 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $37,665,000 after acquiring an additional 111,203 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Century Aluminum by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,279,772 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $20,774,000 after acquiring an additional 13,486 shares in the last quarter. 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.