Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Short Interest Update

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX - Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,300,000 shares, a drop of 12.8% from the January 15th total of 4,930,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,230,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days. Approximately 8.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. B. Riley raised their price objective on Century Aluminum from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com raised Century Aluminum from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, November 9th. Wolfe Research raised Century Aluminum from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $27.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Century Aluminum from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th.

Insider Activity at Century Aluminum

In related news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.97, for a total transaction of $554,739.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 50,753 shares of the company's stock, valued at $962,784.41. This trade represents a 36.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CENX. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Century Aluminum in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in Century Aluminum by 2,889.3% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,511 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 2,427 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Century Aluminum in the 4th quarter valued at about $54,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Century Aluminum by 159.2% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olympiad Research LP bought a new stake in Century Aluminum in the 3rd quarter valued at about $180,000. 61.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Century Aluminum Trading Down 13.3 %

Shares of CENX stock traded down $2.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $17.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,242,985 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,644,850. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $19.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.01. Century Aluminum has a 52 week low of $9.65 and a 52 week high of $25.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.71. The company has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of 5.81 and a beta of 2.50.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The industrial products company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.05. Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 14.60%. The firm had revenue of $631.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $515.27 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Century Aluminum will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Century Aluminum

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.