Alcoa (NYSE:AA) Sees Large Volume Increase Following Analyst Upgrade

Alcoa Co. (NYSE:AA) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Thursday after B. Riley raised their price target on the stock from $25.00 to $31.00. B. Riley currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Approximately 2,384,408 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the previous session’s volume of 6,303,964 shares.The stock last traded at $33.98 and had previously closed at $35.55.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on AA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alcoa from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Alcoa in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Alcoa from $27.00 to $29.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Alcoa from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Alcoa from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.71.

Insider Transactions at Alcoa

In other news, EVP Tammi A. Jones sold 26,468 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.78, for a total transaction of $814,685.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 41,166 shares in the company, valued at $1,267,089.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alcoa

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in Alcoa by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,273,477 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $352,119,000 after buying an additional 271,387 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Alcoa by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,941,667 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $172,665,000 after buying an additional 1,185,323 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in Alcoa by 4,737.1% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,578,275 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $208,174,000 after buying an additional 4,483,625 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Alcoa by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,312,340 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $146,626,000 after buying an additional 1,104,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Alcoa in the 1st quarter valued at about $318,670,000.

Alcoa Stock Down 0.2 %

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $30.97 and its 200-day moving average is $29.02. The stock has a market cap of $6.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 2.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The industrial products company reported ($0.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $2.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.55 billion. Alcoa had a negative net margin of 6.17% and a negative return on equity of 6.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.23) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alcoa Co. will post 0.33 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 4th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. Alcoa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -10.96%.

About Alcoa

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.