Alcoa (NYSE:AA) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $68.50.

A number of research firms have weighed in on AA. Argus set a $73.00 price target on Alcoa in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research cut Alcoa from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen cut Alcoa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley set a $79.00 price target on Alcoa in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Alcoa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, May 22nd.

Institutional Trading of Alcoa

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Alcoa by 187.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 408,624 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $21,902,000 after purchasing an additional 266,574 shares in the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alcoa during the third quarter worth about $5,606,000. Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alcoa during the fourth quarter worth about $2,631,000. Regal Partners Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Alcoa by 7.0% during the third quarter. Regal Partners Ltd now owns 451,940 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,864,000 after buying an additional 29,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alcoa by 114.2% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 28,945 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,538,000 after buying an additional 15,432 shares during the last quarter.

Alcoa Stock Down 1.6%

Alcoa stock opened at $61.85 on Thursday. Alcoa has a 1-year low of $27.72 and a 1-year high of $84.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market cap of $16.32 billion, a PE ratio of 15.66 and a beta of 1.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $68.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.96.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The industrial products company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by ($0.20). Alcoa had a net margin of 8.27% and a return on equity of 12.57%. The business had revenue of $3.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.15 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alcoa will post 7.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alcoa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Alcoa’s payout ratio is 10.13%.

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.