Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX) has been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $80.00.

CENX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Century Aluminum from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. BMO Capital Markets set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Century Aluminum and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 150,000 shares of Century Aluminum stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.47, for a total value of $8,320,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 142,580 shares in the company, valued at $7,908,912.60. This trade represents a 51.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CENX. Glencore plc raised its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Glencore plc now owns 53,511,894 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,096,596,000 after purchasing an additional 13,454,538 shares during the last quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 612.0% in the second quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC now owns 1,424,088 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,662,000 after buying an additional 1,224,088 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,939,794 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $271,901,000 after buying an additional 1,094,257 shares in the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 210.4% in the first quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,551,362 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $91,049,000 after buying an additional 1,051,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 109.7% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,830,324 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $107,422,000 after buying an additional 957,571 shares in the last quarter. 61.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

Shares of CENX stock opened at $60.91 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 2.30. The company has a market capitalization of $6.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.18 and a beta of 1.90. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $62.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.65. Century Aluminum has a 52 week low of $16.59 and a 52 week high of $70.43.

Century Aluminum Company Profile

Century Aluminum Company is a primary aluminum producer that develops and operates smelters designed to supply low-carbon, high-purity aluminum products to a range of industrial and commercial markets. Established in 1995, the company has grown to become a significant North American aluminum producer with an expanding international footprint. Century Aluminum is headquartered in the United States and is focused on energy-efficient operations and cost management.

The company’s core operations include three primary aluminum smelting facilities located in Hawesville, Kentucky; Mount Holly, South Carolina; and Grundartangi, Iceland.