Alcoa Co. (NYSE:AA) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Alcoa Co. (NYSE:AA) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $33.54.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Alcoa from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alcoa from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Alcoa from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Alcoa from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $28.50 to $36.50 in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, B. Riley raised their target price on shares of Alcoa from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alcoa news, EVP Tammi A. Jones sold 26,468 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.78, for a total transaction of $814,685.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,166 shares in the company, valued at $1,267,089.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alcoa

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Alcoa in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,557,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alcoa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,730,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Alcoa by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,312,340 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $146,626,000 after acquiring an additional 1,104,423 shares during the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP raised its stake in shares of Alcoa by 202.2% during the first quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 1,491,544 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $50,399,000 after acquiring an additional 997,912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Alcoa by 3,731.1% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 799,705 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,190,000 after purchasing an additional 778,831 shares during the period. 82.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alcoa Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of Alcoa stock opened at $36.64 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 2.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The business has a 50-day moving average of $33.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.95. Alcoa has a 1 year low of $23.07 and a 1 year high of $38.20.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The industrial products company reported ($0.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $2.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.55 billion. Alcoa had a negative return on equity of 8.51% and a negative net margin of 6.41%. Alcoa’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alcoa will post 0.2 EPS for the current year.

Alcoa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. Alcoa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -10.64%.

Alcoa Company Profile

Alcoa Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells bauxite, alumina, and aluminum products in the United States, Spain, Australia, Iceland, Norway, Brazil, Canada, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Alumina and Aluminum. It engages in bauxite mining operations; and processes bauxite into alumina and sells it to customers who process it into industrial chemical products, as well as aluminum smelting and casting businesses.