Alcoa (NYSE:AA) Trading Down 11.3% – Time to Sell?

Alcoa (NYSE:AA)’s share price dropped 11.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $55.80 and last traded at $56.9890. Approximately 3,666,660 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 7,790,367 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.23.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AA has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Alcoa from $48.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Alcoa from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $68.00 in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Alcoa from $54.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $68.00 target price on Alcoa in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Alcoa from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.45.

Alcoa Trading Down 3.9%

The firm has a market capitalization of $14.87 billion, a PE ratio of 12.75 and a beta of 1.85. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $61.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.31. Alcoa had a return on equity of 16.19% and a net margin of 9.12%.The firm had revenue of $6.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. Alcoa’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alcoa will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alcoa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. Alcoa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.05%.

Institutional Trading of Alcoa

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AA. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in Alcoa by 1,098.0% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 11,704 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 10,727 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alcoa by 0.7% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 646,609 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $19,722,000 after purchasing an additional 4,624 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alcoa by 29.0% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,487 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alcoa by 4.3% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 11,477 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in Alcoa by 7.7% in the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 66,515 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,963,000 after buying an additional 4,758 shares in the last quarter.

Alcoa Company Profile

Alcoa Corporation is a global industry leader in the production and management of aluminum, offering an integrated value chain that spans bauxite mining, alumina refining, primary aluminum smelting and the fabrication of value-added products. The company’s operations are organized into segments that include raw material extraction, chemical processing and the manufacture of metal mill products and engineered solutions.

Alcoa’s product portfolio serves diverse end markets such as aerospace, automotive, packaging, construction, electrical and industrial applications.