Next Century Growth Investors LLC Acquires 12,037 Shares of Centrus Energy Corp. $LEU

Next Century Growth Investors LLC increased its holdings in Centrus Energy Corp. (NYSE:LEU) by 56.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,462 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 12,037 shares during the period. Next Century Growth Investors LLC owned about 0.18% of Centrus Energy worth $8,123,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Centrus Energy by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,086,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,745,000 after buying an additional 14,325 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Centrus Energy by 6.7% in the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 936,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $290,376,000 after buying an additional 58,634 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Centrus Energy by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 895,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,481,000 after buying an additional 114,881 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Centrus Energy by 43.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 473,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,861,000 after purchasing an additional 143,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Centrus Energy by 78.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 442,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,132,000 after purchasing an additional 194,909 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 49.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Centrus Energy news, CFO Todd M. Tinelli sold 306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.55, for a total value of $62,286.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Centrus Energy Price Performance

NYSE LEU opened at $162.73 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 5.72 and a quick ratio of 4.88. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $189.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $225.37. Centrus Energy Corp. has a 1 year low of $144.65 and a 1 year high of $464.25. The company has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.88, a PEG ratio of 19.86 and a beta of 1.34.

Centrus Energy (NYSE:LEU) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.72. Centrus Energy had a return on equity of 13.10% and a net margin of 13.40%.The firm had revenue of $76.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.13 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Centrus Energy Corp. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LEU. Citigroup reduced their price target on Centrus Energy from $224.00 to $218.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 8th. B. Riley Financial reduced their price target on Centrus Energy from $315.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Centrus Energy from $245.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Centrus Energy from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Centrus Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $268.18.

About Centrus Energy

Centrus Energy Corp is a U.S.-based supplier of nuclear fuel and enrichment services, specializing in the production of low-enriched uranium (LEU) for commercial power reactors and highly enriched uranium for naval propulsion. Through its Centrus Global subsidiary, the company provides technical support, fuel fabrication services and recycled uranium products to utilities operating light-water reactors. Centrus also develops advanced centrifuge technologies aimed at improving enrichment efficiency and reducing the cost of nuclear fuel.

Originally founded as the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) in 1998 following a spin-out from the U.S.