Alcoa (NYSE:AA) Lifted to “Equal Weight” at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Alcoa (NYSE:AA) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $36.50 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $28.50.

AA has been the subject of several other research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alcoa from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alcoa from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Alcoa from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Alcoa from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of Alcoa from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alcoa currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $33.54.

Alcoa Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of AA opened at $35.95 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.46 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.56, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 2.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Alcoa has a one year low of $23.07 and a one year high of $38.20. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.27.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The industrial products company reported ($0.81) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $2.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.55 billion. Alcoa had a negative return on equity of 8.51% and a negative net margin of 6.41%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alcoa will post 0.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alcoa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. Alcoa’s dividend payout ratio is -10.64%.

Insider Transactions at Alcoa

In related news, EVP Tammi A. Jones sold 26,468 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.78, for a total value of $814,685.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,166 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,267,089.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AA. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Alcoa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,557,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alcoa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,730,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Alcoa by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,312,340 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $146,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,104,423 shares during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Alcoa by 202.2% during the first quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 1,491,544 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,399,000 after purchasing an additional 997,912 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Alcoa by 3,731.1% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 799,705 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,190,000 after purchasing an additional 778,831 shares during the period.

Alcoa Company Profile

Alcoa Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells bauxite, alumina, and aluminum products in the United States, Spain, Australia, Iceland, Norway, Brazil, Canada, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Alumina and Aluminum. It engages in bauxite mining operations; and processes bauxite into alumina and sells it to customers who process it into industrial chemical products, as well as aluminum smelting and casting businesses.