Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 43,881 Shares of Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX - Free Report) by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 301,992 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 43,881 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.33% of Century Aluminum worth $4,901,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 125.7% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 531,679 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $8,906,000 after purchasing an additional 296,101 shares in the last quarter. Aristeia Capital L.L.C. acquired a new position in Century Aluminum during the 2nd quarter worth about $681,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Century Aluminum by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,819,805 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $89,567,000 after buying an additional 39,900 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Century Aluminum during the 1st quarter worth about $163,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Century Aluminum during the 3rd quarter worth about $475,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.59% of the company's stock.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

Shares of CENX stock opened at $23.08 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of 7.72 and a beta of 2.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $17.60 and a 200-day moving average of $16.58. Century Aluminum has a one year low of $7.28 and a one year high of $24.21.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $539.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $587.10 million. Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 14.60%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.13) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Century Aluminum will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. B. Riley upped their price target on shares of Century Aluminum from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, November 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Century Aluminum from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th.

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.