B. Riley Upgrades Alcoa (NYSE:AA) to “Buy”

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) was upgraded by B. Riley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, FinViz reports. The brokerage currently has a $50.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $41.00. B. Riley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 18.79% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on AA. Bank of America raised Alcoa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $43.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Alcoa from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Alcoa in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on Alcoa from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Alcoa from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alcoa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.36.

Alcoa Price Performance

AA stock opened at $42.09 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.19 and a beta of 2.42. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.71. Alcoa has a 52-week low of $23.07 and a 52-week high of $45.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.55.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The industrial products company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.97 billion. Alcoa had a negative net margin of 5.14% and a negative return on equity of 7.29%. The company’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.14) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alcoa will post 0.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Alcoa

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AA. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alcoa in the first quarter valued at $210,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its holdings in Alcoa by 24.7% during the first quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 4,044 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alcoa by 12.9% in the first quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 1,351,720 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,675,000 after purchasing an additional 154,403 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alcoa during the first quarter valued at $252,000. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP grew its stake in Alcoa by 202.2% in the 1st quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 1,491,544 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,399,000 after acquiring an additional 997,912 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.39% of the company’s stock.

Alcoa Company Profile

Alcoa Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells bauxite, alumina, and aluminum products in the United States, Spain, Australia, Iceland, Norway, Brazil, Canada, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Alumina and Aluminum. It engages in bauxite mining operations; and processes bauxite into alumina and sells it to customers who process it into industrial chemical products, as well as aluminum smelting and casting businesses.