Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) CEO Sells $554,739.71 in Stock

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.97, for a total transaction of $554,739.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 50,753 shares in the company, valued at approximately $962,784.41. The trade was a 36.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Century Aluminum Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CENX traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $18.23. 671,490 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,296,615. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 0.56. Century Aluminum has a 1 year low of $9.65 and a 1 year high of $25.39. The company’s 50-day moving average is $20.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.31. The company has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.10 and a beta of 2.50.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Century Aluminum from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock 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 research report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Century Aluminum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Century Aluminum from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CENX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 49.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 959,033 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,565,000 after acquiring an additional 319,164 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 301,992 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,901,000 after acquiring an additional 43,881 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 7.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,115 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 2,198 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 266.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 97,396 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,581,000 after buying an additional 70,825 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Century Aluminum by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,279,772 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $20,774,000 after purchasing an additional 13,486 shares in the last quarter. 61.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Century Aluminum

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.