Alcoa (NYSE:AA) Sees Large Volume Increase Following Analyst Upgrade

Alcoa Co. (NYSE:AA) saw unusually-high trading volume on Thursday after B. Riley raised their price target on the stock from $25.00 to $31.00. B. Riley currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Approximately 2,384,408 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the previous session’s volume of 6,303,964 shares.The stock last traded at $33.98 and had previously closed at $35.55.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Alcoa from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Alcoa from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group began coverage on Alcoa in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a “sell” rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Alcoa from $27.00 to $29.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Alcoa from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alcoa currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alcoa

In other Alcoa news, EVP Tammi A. Jones sold 26,468 shares of Alcoa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.78, for a total transaction of $814,685.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,267,089.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Institutional Trading of Alcoa

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Alcoa by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,273,477 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $352,119,000 after purchasing an additional 271,387 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Alcoa by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,941,667 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $172,665,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185,323 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its position in shares of Alcoa by 4,737.1% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,578,275 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $208,174,000 after purchasing an additional 4,483,625 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Alcoa by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,312,340 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $146,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alcoa in the 1st quarter worth approximately $318,670,000.

Alcoa Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.45. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $30.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.72, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 2.47.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The industrial products company reported ($0.81) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by ($0.19). Alcoa had a negative return on equity of 6.56% and a negative net margin of 6.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.23) earnings per share. Alcoa’s revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alcoa Co. will post 0.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alcoa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 5th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. Alcoa’s payout ratio is currently -10.96%.

Alcoa Company Profile

Alcoa Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells bauxite, alumina, and aluminum products in the United States, Spain, Australia, Iceland, Norway, Brazil, Canada, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Alumina and Aluminum. It engages in bauxite mining operations; and processes bauxite into alumina and sells it to customers who process it into industrial chemical products, as well as aluminum smelting and casting businesses.