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

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX)’s share price traded down 3.4% on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $19.49 and last traded at $19.41. 724,777 shares changed hands during mid-day 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Century Aluminum Trading Up 1.9 %

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $19.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.36 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 released its 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. The firm had revenue of $631.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $515.27 million. Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 13.38% and a net margin of 14.69%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Century Aluminum will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 2,889.3% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,511 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 2,427 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum during the 4th quarter worth $54,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 159.2% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,256 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corton Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum during the 4th quarter worth $189,000. 61.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.