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

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) dropped 3.4% during trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $19.49 and last traded at $19.41. Approximately 724,777 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 46% from the average daily 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 firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.99, for a total value of $49,975.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 64,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,281,019.17. This trade represents a 3.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CENX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. 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 research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Century Aluminum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Century Aluminum from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th.

Century Aluminum Trading Down 3.3 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion, a PE ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 2.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The business’s 50-day moving average is $19.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.69.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Century Aluminum by 159.2% in the fourth 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 period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Century Aluminum in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Century Aluminum by 7.9% in the third 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Century Aluminum by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 411,589 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,499,000 after purchasing an additional 2,358 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in Century Aluminum by 2,889.3% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,511 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 2,427 shares during the period. 61.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.