Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $55.61 and last traded at $52.4430, with a volume of 424968 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $52.50.

Key Stories Impacting Century Aluminum

Here are the key news stories impacting Century Aluminum this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Company statement backing the Supreme Court IEEPA ruling and U.S. trade policies; Century says Section 232 tariffs helped justify near‑term production increases (~10% at Mt. Holly) and supports plans to build a new smelter in Inola, OK (large capex and job creation — long‑term production upside). Century Aluminum Company Statement on U.S. Supreme Court IEEPA Ruling
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support and institutional interest: recent buy/overweight ratings and price targets (median ~$61) plus large Q4 additions by some institutions support upside expectations. QuiverQuant institutional & analyst notes
• Positive Sentiment: Sector tailwinds and improving cash flow commentary from analysts — industrials momentum and calls to favor names with rising cash flows include CENX as resilient versus headline earnings. Zacks: rising cash flows
• Neutral Sentiment: Q4 result details are mixed across reports: revenue of ~$633.7M (up 0.4% YoY) but below some estimates; different outlets report varying EPS metrics (some adjusted measures met estimates while other GAAP figures were far weaker), making near‑term guidance clarity important. Yahoo: Q4 earnings snapshot
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction to Q4: several outlets show a revenue miss and sharply weaker net income/GAAP EPS in the quarter, which pressured the stock after the release. QuiverQuant: Stock falls on Q4 earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling is notable (including large sales reported over the past six months), which can weigh on near‑term sentiment even as institutions adjust positions. QuiverQuant: press release & insider activity
• Neutral Sentiment: Data oddities: a short‑interest entry shows anomalous/zero values — treat as unreliable until confirmed. QuiverQuant: short interest note

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Century Aluminum from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Century Aluminum from $46.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. B. Riley Financial raised their price objective on shares of Century Aluminum from $37.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Century Aluminum in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $53.00.

Century Aluminum Stock Up 0.3%

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $44.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $4.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.60 and a beta of 2.24.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.25. Century Aluminum had a net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 6.05%. The business had revenue of $633.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $661.63 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.49 earnings per share. Century Aluminum’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Century Aluminum Company will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 150,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total value of $7,228,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 292,580 shares in the company, valued at $14,099,430.20. This trade represents a 33.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Century Aluminum

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CENX. Glencore plc grew its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. Glencore plc now owns 53,511,894 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,096,596,000 after buying an additional 13,454,538 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its stake in Century Aluminum by 340.1% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,733,668 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $31,248,000 after acquiring an additional 1,339,744 shares during the last quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC grew its holdings in Century Aluminum by 612.0% during the second quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC now owns 1,424,088 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,662,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224,088 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Century Aluminum by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,939,794 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $271,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,094,257 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Century Aluminum by 392.3% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 767,692 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $22,539,000 after purchasing an additional 611,758 shares during the period. 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.