Legato Capital Management LLC Takes $1.61 Million Position in Century Aluminum Company $CENX

Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ:CENX) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 40,973 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,605,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Glencore plc increased its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 33.6% in the 4th quarter. Glencore plc now owns 53,511,894 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,096,596,000 after purchasing an additional 13,454,538 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,939,794 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $271,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,094,257 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,665,546 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $66,053,000 after purchasing an additional 426,306 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,457,401 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,789,000 after purchasing an additional 27,999 shares during the period. Finally, Sourcerock Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Century Aluminum by 612.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC now owns 1,424,088 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,662,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224,088 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.59% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CENX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Century Aluminum from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. B. Riley Financial increased their price objective on Century Aluminum from $68.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Century Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Century Aluminum from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $80.00.

Century Aluminum Stock Up 7.6%

Shares of Century Aluminum stock opened at $65.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.42 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 2.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $59.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.49. Century Aluminum Company has a 12-month low of $15.13 and a 12-month high of $68.69.

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The industrial products company reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25. The firm had revenue of $633.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $661.63 million. Century Aluminum had a return on equity of 13.59% and a net margin of 13.75%.The company’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Century Aluminum Company will post 10.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Century Aluminum news, CAO Robert F. Hoffman sold 10,529 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.51, for a total transaction of $594,993.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 56,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,200,895.93. This represents a 15.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John Dezee sold 66,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.72, for a total value of $3,347,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 97,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,952,655.84. The trade was a 40.33% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 251,626 shares of company stock worth $13,619,411 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

About Century Aluminum

Century Aluminum Company is a primary aluminum producer that develops and operates smelters designed to supply low-carbon, high-purity aluminum products to a range of industrial and commercial markets. Established in 1995, the company has grown to become a significant North American aluminum producer with an expanding international footprint. Century Aluminum is headquartered in the United States and is focused on energy-efficient operations and cost management.

The company’s core operations include three primary aluminum smelting facilities located in Hawesville, Kentucky; Mount Holly, South Carolina; and Grundartangi, Iceland.