Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Brokerages

Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $60.80.

CENX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Century Aluminum in a research note on Monday, October 19th. B. Riley Financial decreased their price objective on Century Aluminum from $72.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. UBS Group lowered their target price on Century Aluminum from $60.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Century Aluminum from $79.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Century Aluminum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 20th.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

Shares of CENX opened at $36.71 on Friday. Century Aluminum has a one year low of $25.40 and a one year high of $70.43. The company has a 50-day moving average of $37.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.23. The stock has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 2.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 3.45 and a quick ratio of 2.23.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The industrial products company reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.67 by ($0.09). Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 47.45% and a net margin of 29.74%. The firm had revenue of $961.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $951.71 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 52.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Century Aluminum will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 47.2% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,257,562 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,253,000 after buying an additional 403,467 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 13.6% in the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 30,145 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,085,000 after buying an additional 3,598 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 232,340 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,893,000 after buying an additional 9,342 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council boosted its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 1,237.8% during the 3rd quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 171,769 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,180,000 after buying an additional 158,929 shares during the period. Finally, Mountaineer Partners Management LLC bought a new stake in Century Aluminum during the third quarter valued at about $22,817,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.59% of the company’s stock.

About Century Aluminum

Century Aluminum Company is a global producer of primary aluminum, an essential material used in transportation, construction, packaging, and other industries. Its products include standard-grade and high-purity aluminum, supplied in forms such as ingots and billets for further processing by customers. The company operates aluminum smelting facilities in the United States and Iceland. Its activities also include producing carbon anodes, which are used in the aluminum-smelting process. Century Aluminum was established in 1995 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.