Kaiser Aluminum Corporation $KALU Shares Purchased by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kaiser Aluminum Corporation (NASDAQ:KALU) by 63.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 25,257 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,823 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Kaiser Aluminum were worth $2,036,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Kaiser Aluminum by 136.3% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,616 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $129,000 after purchasing an additional 932 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its holdings in Kaiser Aluminum by 50.6% during the 1st quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 2,598 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $157,000 after buying an additional 873 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in shares of Kaiser Aluminum by 385.7% during the 1st quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 3,162 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $192,000 after acquiring an additional 2,511 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kaiser Aluminum by 128.5% in the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,877 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kaiser Aluminum during the 1st quarter worth about $247,000. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KALU has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kaiser Aluminum from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Kaiser Aluminum from $82.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Kaiser Aluminum from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Zacks Research raised Kaiser Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Kaiser Aluminum from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.67.

Kaiser Aluminum Stock Performance

Kaiser Aluminum stock opened at $106.25 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.21 and a beta of 1.51. Kaiser Aluminum Corporation has a 12 month low of $46.81 and a 12 month high of $106.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 2.48 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $88.10 and its 200-day moving average is $81.71.

Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ:KALU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 2nd. The industrial products company reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $765.40 million during the quarter. Kaiser Aluminum had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 10.67%. Equities analysts anticipate that Kaiser Aluminum Corporation will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Kaiser Aluminum Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 24th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 24th. Kaiser Aluminum’s dividend payout ratio is 55.70%.

Insider Transactions at Kaiser Aluminum

In other Kaiser Aluminum news, EVP Blain Tiffany sold 8,656 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.92, for a total value of $812,971.52. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 26,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,467,748. This trade represents a 24.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kaiser Aluminum Profile

Kaiser Aluminum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in manufacture and sale of semi-fabricated specialty aluminum mill products in the United States and internationally. It offers rolled, extruded, and drawn aluminum products used for aerospace and defense, aluminum beverage and food packaging, automotive and general engineering products.