Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in 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. Approximately 8.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,080,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Century Aluminum Stock Performance

Century Aluminum stock traded down $0.55 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $20.87. 620,535 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,307,142. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.98 and a beta of 2.50. The business has a 50 day moving average of $20.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.16. Century Aluminum has a 12 month low of $8.87 and a 12 month high of $25.39. 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 (NASDAQ:CENX) last issued 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. Century Aluminum had a net margin of 14.60% and a return on equity of 11.37%. The company had revenue of $539.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $587.10 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.13) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Century Aluminum will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MQS Management LLC increased its holdings in Century Aluminum by 8.1% during the second quarter. MQS Management LLC now owns 11,792 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $198,000 after buying an additional 883 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 39.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,347 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,233 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 5.0% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 27,893 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 104.1% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 2,716 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Century Aluminum by 0.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 366,804 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,144,000 after purchasing an additional 1,641 shares in the last quarter. 61.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CENX shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Century Aluminum from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of Century Aluminum from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped 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 note on Tuesday, November 5th.

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.