Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Shares Down 15.5% – Time to Sell?

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX)’s stock price dropped 15.5% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $14.32 and last traded at $14.76. Approximately 2,834,998 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 106% from the average daily volume of 1,376,323 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.46.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CENX shares. BMO Capital Markets raised Century Aluminum from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th.

Century Aluminum Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.74 and a beta of 2.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.15.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The industrial products company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $631.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 previous year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Century Aluminum will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Robert F. Hoffman sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.99, for a total transaction of $49,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 64,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,281,019.17. This trade represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 49.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 959,033 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $15,565,000 after acquiring an additional 319,164 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Century Aluminum by 266.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 97,396 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,581,000 after purchasing an additional 70,825 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Century Aluminum by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 539,161 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,824,000 after purchasing an additional 51,770 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 301,992 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,901,000 after purchasing an additional 43,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Century Aluminum in the 4th quarter valued at $337,000. Institutional investors own 61.59% of the company’s stock.

Century Aluminum Company Profile

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.