Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Share Price Passes Above 200 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Shares of Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $17.29 and traded as high as $18.96. Century Aluminum shares last traded at $18.41, with a volume of 655,815 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CENX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Century Aluminum from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. B. Riley raised their target price on shares of Century Aluminum from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Century Aluminum from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 9th.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $20.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 2.50.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.31. Century Aluminum had a net margin of 14.60% and a return on equity of 11.37%. The business had revenue of $539.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $587.10 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.13) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Century Aluminum will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Century Aluminum

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CENX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Century Aluminum by 49.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 959,033 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $15,565,000 after purchasing an additional 319,164 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew 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 period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,115 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $524,000 after buying an additional 2,198 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 266.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 97,396 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,581,000 after buying an additional 70,825 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Century Aluminum by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,279,772 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $20,774,000 after buying an additional 13,486 shares in the last quarter. 61.59% of the stock is 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.