Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 50,100 Alcoa Co. (NYSE:AA)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Alcoa Co. (NYSE:AA) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 50,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,703,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Alcoa by 3,731.1% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 799,705 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,190,000 after buying an additional 778,831 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alcoa by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,234,472 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,874,000 after buying an additional 54,876 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Alcoa by 132.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 112,082 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,824,000 after buying an additional 63,816 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC bought a new position in shares of Alcoa during the 4th quarter valued at $227,000. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its holdings in shares of Alcoa by 90.9% during the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 61,801 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,796,000 after buying an additional 29,431 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Alcoa from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Alcoa from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut Alcoa from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. B. Riley raised their target price on Alcoa from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Alcoa from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.96.

Alcoa Price Performance

NYSE:AA opened at $35.53 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.06. The stock has a market cap of $6.38 billion, a PE ratio of -9.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 2.47. Alcoa Co. has a 52 week low of $23.07 and a 52 week high of $42.23.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The industrial products company reported ($0.81) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $2.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.55 billion. Alcoa had a negative net margin of 6.41% and a negative return on equity of 8.30%. Alcoa’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Alcoa Co. will post 0.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alcoa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were issued 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 yield of 1.13%. Alcoa’s dividend payout ratio is presently -10.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alcoa

In other Alcoa news, EVP Tammi A. Jones sold 26,468 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.78, for a total transaction of $814,685.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,267,089.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Alcoa 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.