JPMorgan Chase & Co. Purchases 319,164 Shares of Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX - Free Report) by 49.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 959,033 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 319,164 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 1.03% of Century Aluminum worth $15,565,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CENX. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC boosted its holdings 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. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 1,208.7% in the second quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,401,638 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $23,477,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294,538 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 1.1% in the third 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 period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 30.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,186,243 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $19,870,000 after purchasing an additional 276,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Impala Asset Management LLC raised its stake 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.59% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Transactions at Century Aluminum

In related news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.97, for a total transaction of $554,739.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 50,753 shares in the company, valued at approximately $962,784.41. This represents a 36.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.68% of the company's stock.

Century Aluminum Price Performance

CENX stock traded down $0.01 during trading on Friday, hitting $19.32. 887,687 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,154,998. Century Aluminum has a 52 week low of $9.65 and a 52 week high of $25.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 2.53. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.49. 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 (NASDAQ:CENX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.31. Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 11.37% and a net margin of 14.60%. The company had revenue of $539.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.10 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.13) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Century Aluminum will post 0.56 EPS 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.