Brokerages Set Kaiser Aluminum Corporation (NASDAQ:KALU) Target Price at $78.00

Shares of Kaiser Aluminum Corporation (NASDAQ:KALU) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $78.00.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on KALU shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Kaiser Aluminum from $64.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Zacks Research cut shares of Kaiser Aluminum from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Kaiser Aluminum in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kaiser Aluminum from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd.

Kaiser Aluminum Price Performance

Shares of KALU opened at $77.36 on Friday. Kaiser Aluminum has a fifty-two week low of $46.81 and a fifty-two week high of $97.00. The company has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.89 and a beta of 1.49. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.70.

Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ:KALU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.72. Kaiser Aluminum had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 2.05%.The company had revenue of $823.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $786.70 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Kaiser Aluminum will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Kaiser Aluminum Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 25th were issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 25th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. Kaiser Aluminum’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.18%.

Institutional Trading of Kaiser Aluminum

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kaiser Aluminum during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $674,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of Kaiser Aluminum during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,598,000. Voya Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Kaiser Aluminum by 40.5% during the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 18,628 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,129,000 after purchasing an additional 5,372 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Kaiser Aluminum during the first quarter worth $430,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Kaiser Aluminum by 16.8% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,189 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.29% of the company’s stock.

About Kaiser Aluminum

Kaiser Aluminum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in manufacture and sale of semi-fabricated specialty aluminum mill products in the United States and internationally. It offers rolled, extruded, and drawn aluminum products used for aerospace and defense, aluminum beverage and food packaging, automotive and general engineering products.