Benchmark Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ:KALU)

Benchmark reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ:KALU) in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $84.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on KALU. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Kaiser Aluminum in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a neutral rating and a $67.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Kaiser Aluminum from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $77.00.

Kaiser Aluminum Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ KALU opened at $89.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.68. Kaiser Aluminum has a 52-week low of $53.67 and a 52-week high of $95.56. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $79.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.30. The stock has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.65 and a beta of 1.38.

Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ:KALU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by $0.94. Kaiser Aluminum had a net margin of 1.53% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The firm had revenue of $722.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.01 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.66) EPS. The company’s revenue was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Kaiser Aluminum will post 3.65 EPS for the current year.

Kaiser Aluminum Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 25th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 24th. Kaiser Aluminum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.48%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kaiser Aluminum

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its stake in Kaiser Aluminum by 314.4% during the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 518 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Kaiser Aluminum by 400.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 540 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Kaiser Aluminum during the fourth quarter worth $51,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Kaiser Aluminum by 2,214.3% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 810 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Kaiser Aluminum during the second quarter worth $80,000. 99.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Kaiser Aluminum

Kaiser Aluminum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in manufacture and sale of semi-fabricated specialty aluminum mill products in the United States and internationally. It offers rolled, extruded, and drawn aluminum products used for aerospace and defense, aluminum beverage and food packaging, automotive and general engineering products.