Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX)

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 5,803 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 286% compared to the average volume of 1,502 call options.

Century Aluminum Price Performance

NASDAQ:CENX opened at $20.16 on Thursday. Century Aluminum has a 1-year low of $9.65 and a 1-year high of $25.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 2.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Century Aluminum

In related news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.97, for a total transaction of $554,739.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 50,753 shares in the company, valued at approximately $962,784.41. This trade represents a 36.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Century Aluminum in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,217,000. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in shares of Century Aluminum during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,606,000. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its position in Century Aluminum by 2,284.8% in the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 21,201 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $386,000 after buying an additional 20,312 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Century Aluminum by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 411,589 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,499,000 after purchasing an additional 2,358 shares during the period. Finally, Hartree Partners LP purchased a new position in Century Aluminum in the 4th quarter worth approximately $825,000. Institutional investors own 61.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.