Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Short Interest Down 11.9% in November

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,230,000 shares, a decline of 11.9% from the November 15th total of 4,800,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,080,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days. Approximately 8.2% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CENX. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 125.7% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 531,679 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,906,000 after acquiring an additional 296,101 shares in the last quarter. Aristeia Capital L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Century Aluminum in the second quarter worth $681,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Century Aluminum by 17.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 301,992 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,901,000 after purchasing an additional 43,881 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Century Aluminum during the third quarter valued at $475,000. Finally, Centiva Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum during the 3rd quarter valued at $559,000. 61.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Century Aluminum Trading Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ CENX traded down $0.49 on Monday, hitting $20.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 506,880 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,303,575. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Century Aluminum has a 52-week low of $9.65 and a 52-week high of $25.39. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.98 and a beta of 2.50. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.16.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The industrial products company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.31. Century Aluminum had a net margin of 14.60% and a return on equity of 11.37%. The business had revenue of $539.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $587.10 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.13) earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Century Aluminum will post 0.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Century Aluminum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 9th. Wolfe Research upgraded Century Aluminum from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. B. Riley raised their target price on shares of Century Aluminum from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Century Aluminum from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th.

Century Aluminum Company Profile

Century Aluminum Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production of standard-grade and value-added primary aluminum products in the United States and Iceland. It also owns and operates an alumina production facility in Iceland, and a carbon anode production facility in the Netherlands.