Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Trading Down 3.4% on Insider Selling

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX)’s stock price fell 3.4% on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $19.49 and last traded at $19.41. 724,777 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 46% from the average session volume of 1,339,785 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.08.

Specifically, CAO Robert F. Hoffman sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.99, for a total value of $49,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 64,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,281,019.17. This represents a 3.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CENX shares. BMO Capital Markets raised Century Aluminum from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Century Aluminum from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Century Aluminum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.69. The company has a market cap of $1.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 2.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

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

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Century Aluminum in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Century Aluminum by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,115 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $524,000 after purchasing an additional 2,198 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Century Aluminum by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 411,589 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,499,000 after buying an additional 2,358 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.59% of the company’s stock.

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.