California Public Employees Retirement System Boosts Stake in Alcoa $AA

California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Alcoa (NYSE:AA) by 5.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 460,639 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 23,835 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Alcoa were worth $30,554,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Alcoa by 187.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 408,624 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $21,902,000 after purchasing an additional 266,574 shares in the last quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alcoa during the fourth quarter valued at $2,631,000. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Alcoa by 114.2% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Drummond Knight Asset Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of Alcoa by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Drummond Knight Asset Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,060,523 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $56,356,000 after buying an additional 130,915 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alcoa in the 4th quarter worth $1,399,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $53.00 target price (down from $79.00) on shares of Alcoa in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings raised Alcoa from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered Alcoa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Alcoa from $57.00 to $51.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Alcoa from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alcoa presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.73.

Alcoa Stock Performance

Alcoa stock opened at $44.23 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.63. Alcoa has a 1-year low of $28.11 and a 1-year high of $84.38. The company’s 50-day moving average is $60.80 and its 200 day moving average is $62.38.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The industrial products company reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.25 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $3.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.99 billion. Alcoa had a net margin of 9.48% and a return on equity of 18.90%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Alcoa will post 6.72 EPS for the current year.

Alcoa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. Alcoa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.23%.

Alcoa Company Profile

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.