Alcoa (NYSE:AA) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $48.25.

Several research firms have commented on AA. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Alcoa from $42.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Alcoa in a research report on Monday, December 15th. B. Riley Financial reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alcoa in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Alcoa from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $50.00 target price (up previously from $45.00) on shares of Alcoa in a report on Thursday, January 8th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alcoa

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AA. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alcoa by 153.4% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,134,425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $219,703,000 after acquiring an additional 2,503,132 shares during the last quarter. EFG International AG purchased a new stake in shares of Alcoa in the fourth quarter valued at about $170,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Alcoa by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 32,290 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,716,000 after purchasing an additional 2,506 shares during the last quarter. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Alcoa during the fourth quarter worth about $173,412,000. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in Alcoa by 291.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,359,320 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $72,234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012,147 shares during the period.

Alcoa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AA opened at $57.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $57.47 and a 200 day moving average of $42.98. The firm has a market cap of $14.87 billion, a PE ratio of 12.99 and a beta of 1.91. Alcoa has a one year low of $21.53 and a one year high of $66.95.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.31. Alcoa had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 16.18%. The business had revenue of ($1,130.00) million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Alcoa will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alcoa Company Profile

Alcoa Corporation is a global industry leader in the production and management of aluminum, offering an integrated value chain that spans bauxite mining, alumina refining, primary aluminum smelting and the fabrication of value-added products. The company’s operations are organized into segments that include raw material extraction, chemical processing and the manufacture of metal mill products and engineered solutions.

Alcoa’s product portfolio serves diverse end markets such as aerospace, automotive, packaging, construction, electrical and industrial applications.