Alcoa (NYSE:AA) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Alcoa (NYSE:AA)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $72.24 and last traded at $70.9060, with a volume of 4134057 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $71.53.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on AA. Zacks Research lowered Alcoa from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. B. Riley Financial reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alcoa in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $52.00 price target on shares of Alcoa in a report on Monday, December 15th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Alcoa from $54.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Alcoa from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $50.00 to $68.00 in a report on Friday, March 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.45.

Alcoa Stock Down 0.9%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $18.71 billion, a PE ratio of 16.04 and a beta of 1.70. The business has a fifty day moving average of $61.77 and a 200-day moving average of $50.52.

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. The firm had revenue of $6.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. Alcoa had a return on equity of 16.19% and a net margin of 9.12%.Alcoa’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alcoa will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Alcoa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Alcoa’s payout ratio is 9.05%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alcoa

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AA. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alcoa by 1,098.0% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 11,704 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $357,000 after buying an additional 10,727 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Alcoa by 0.7% in 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 worth $19,722,000 after buying an additional 4,624 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in Alcoa by 42.7% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 28,133 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $830,000 after buying an additional 8,419 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Alcoa in the second quarter worth approximately $245,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Alcoa by 1.9% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 640,528 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,902,000 after buying an additional 12,008 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.39% of the company’s stock.

About Alcoa

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.