Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Trading Up 7.6% After Earnings Beat

Shares of Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) were up 7.6% on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock traded as high as $6.97 and last traded at $6.93. Approximately 607,838 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 1,368,628 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.44.

The industrial products company reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.19) by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $545.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $542.30 million. Century Aluminum had a negative net margin of 4.49% and a negative return on equity of 14.43%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.34) EPS.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on CENX shares. B. Riley cut their price objective on shares of Century Aluminum from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Century Aluminum to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 27th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Century Aluminum

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 46,644 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,227,000 after buying an additional 874 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 15,833 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 26.1% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 7,395 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $195,000 after buying an additional 1,529 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 114,769 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $606,000 after buying an additional 2,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in Century Aluminum by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 102,344 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after acquiring an additional 2,339 shares during the period. 53.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Century Aluminum Stock Up 3.0 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $6.76 and a 200-day moving average of $7.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $612.51 million, a P/E ratio of -5.72 and a beta of 2.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 1.22.

About Century Aluminum

Century Aluminum Company, together with its subsidiaries, produces standard-grade and value-added primary aluminum products in the United States and Iceland. It also owns and operates a carbon anode production facility in the Netherlands. Century Aluminum Company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.