Centrus Energy (NYSE:LEU) Shares Up 8.4% – Time to Buy?

Centrus Energy Corp. (NYSE:LEU)’s stock price shot up 8.4% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $186.50 and last traded at $188.1560. 170,256 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 1,088,934 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.59.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on LEU shares. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price target on shares of Centrus Energy in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Centrus Energy from $292.00 to $225.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $137.00 target price on shares of Centrus Energy in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $246.00 target price on Centrus Energy in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Centrus Energy from $245.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $270.64.

Centrus Energy Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a PE ratio of 43.84 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 4.83, a current ratio of 5.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $220.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $271.42.

Centrus Energy (NYSE:LEU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.63). Centrus Energy had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 15.52%. The firm had revenue of $146.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $145.40 million. Centrus Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Centrus Energy Corp. will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centrus Energy

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LEU. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. increased its position in Centrus Energy by 125.1% during the 3rd quarter. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. now owns 93,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,112,000 after buying an additional 52,181 shares in the last quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Centrus Energy in the third quarter worth about $3,024,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Centrus Energy by 78.8% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 442,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,132,000 after acquiring an additional 194,909 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Centrus Energy by 309.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 34,754 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,776,000 after acquiring an additional 26,257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in shares of Centrus Energy during the third quarter valued at about $5,427,000. 49.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Centrus Energy

Centrus Energy Corp is a U.S.-based supplier of nuclear fuel and enrichment services, specializing in the production of low-enriched uranium (LEU) for commercial power reactors and highly enriched uranium for naval propulsion. Through its Centrus Global subsidiary, the company provides technical support, fuel fabrication services and recycled uranium products to utilities operating light-water reactors. Centrus also develops advanced centrifuge technologies aimed at improving enrichment efficiency and reducing the cost of nuclear fuel.

Originally founded as the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) in 1998 following a spin-out from the U.S.