Congress Asset Management Co. Boosts Stock Holdings in Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX)

Congress Asset Management Co. increased its stake in Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX - Free Report) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 218,525 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 14,223 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. owned 0.24% of Century Aluminum worth $3,982,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC increased its stake in Century Aluminum by 1,607.1% in 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 buying an additional 21,510,639 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 valued at $20,774,000 after purchasing an additional 13,486 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position 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 valued at $15,565,000 after purchasing an additional 319,164 shares during the period. Impala Asset Management LLC increased its position 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 valued at $14,672,000 after purchasing an additional 54,000 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Century Aluminum by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 621,300 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $10,084,000 after purchasing an additional 89,621 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.59% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CENX has been the topic of a number of research reports. 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 report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of Century Aluminum from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, November 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Century Aluminum from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $27.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Century Aluminum Stock Down 13.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CENX traded down $2.66 during trading on Friday, reaching $17.38. The stock had a trading volume of 5,245,073 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,644,873. Century Aluminum has a one year low of $9.65 and a one year high of $25.39. The company has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.81 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $19.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.04.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of Century Aluminum stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 50,753 shares in the company, valued at $962,784.41. This trade represents a 36.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.