Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Shares Gap Down - What's Next?

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX - Get Free Report) shares gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $20.04, but opened at $18.86. Century Aluminum shares last traded at $18.47, with a volume of 917,910 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CENX. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Century Aluminum from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $22.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday. Wolfe Research upgraded 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Century Aluminum from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, B. Riley raised their price target 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.

Century Aluminum Stock Up 8.8 %

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $19.23 and a 200 day moving average of $18.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 6.38 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The industrial products company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $631.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $515.27 million. Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 13.38% and a net margin of 14.69%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Century Aluminum will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Century Aluminum news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 50,753 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $962,784.41. This represents a 36.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Century Aluminum by 49.9% in 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. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Century Aluminum by 266.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 97,396 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,581,000 after purchasing an additional 70,825 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 17.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 301,992 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,901,000 after purchasing an additional 43,881 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $337,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 89,621 shares in the last quarter. 61.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Century Aluminum Company 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.