Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Trading Down 10.3% – Time to Sell?

Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX) shares dropped 10.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $42.00 and last traded at $40.9480. Approximately 1,800,118 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 17% from the average daily volume of 2,173,521 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.66.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on CENX. Weiss Ratings lowered Century Aluminum from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. B. Riley Financial reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Century Aluminum in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Century Aluminum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on shares of Century Aluminum in a report on Monday, August 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $60.00 price objective for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.00.

Century Aluminum Trading Down 8.9%

The company has a 50 day moving average of $47.42 and a 200 day moving average of $53.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.75, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.15 and a beta of 1.96.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $2.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by $0.13. Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 33.83% and a net margin of 22.63%.The firm had revenue of $752.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $817.15 million. Century Aluminum’s revenue for the quarter was up 59.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Century Aluminum Company will post 8.34 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Century Aluminum

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in Century Aluminum in the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Century Aluminum in the first quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Private Trust Co. NA bought a new position in shares of Century Aluminum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Century Aluminum in the 1st quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Century Aluminum in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.59% of the company’s stock.

Century Aluminum Company Profile

Century Aluminum Company is a primary aluminum producer that develops and operates smelters designed to supply low-carbon, high-purity aluminum products to a range of industrial and commercial markets. Established in 1995, the company has grown to become a significant North American aluminum producer with an expanding international footprint. Century Aluminum is headquartered in the United States and is focused on energy-efficient operations and cost management.

The company’s core operations include three primary aluminum smelting facilities located in Hawesville, Kentucky; Mount Holly, South Carolina; and Grundartangi, Iceland.