New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 29,310 Shares of Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its position in shares of Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX - Free Report) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 296,781 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 29,310 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.32% of Century Aluminum worth $5,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC increased its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 1,607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 22,849,097 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $370,841,000 after purchasing an additional 21,510,639 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Century Aluminum by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,279,772 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $20,774,000 after acquiring an additional 13,486 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Century Aluminum by 49.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 959,033 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $15,565,000 after acquiring an additional 319,164 shares during the last quarter. Impala Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Century Aluminum by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Impala Asset Management LLC now owns 904,000 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $14,672,000 after acquiring an additional 54,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Century Aluminum by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 487,391 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $7,910,000 after acquiring an additional 10,105 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.59% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CENX shares. B. Riley raised their target price on shares of Century Aluminum from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Century Aluminum from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $22.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Century Aluminum from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Century Aluminum from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.97, for a total value of $554,739.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 50,753 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $962,784.41. The trade was a 36.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.68% of the company's stock.

Century Aluminum Stock Down 5.2 %

CENX stock traded down $0.99 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $17.96. 1,095,945 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,709,119. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.71. Century Aluminum has a 1-year low of $10.06 and a 1-year high of $25.39. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.72 and a beta of 2.50. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $19.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.33.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The industrial products company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $631.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $515.27 million. Century Aluminum had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 13.38%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Century Aluminum will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Century Aluminum Profile

Century Aluminum Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production of standard-grade and value-added primary aluminum products in the United States and Iceland. It also owns and operates an alumina production facility in Iceland, and a carbon anode production facility in the Netherlands.