Alcoa (NYSE:AA) Upgraded to “Equal Weight” by Morgan Stanley

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) was upgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report issued on Monday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $36.50 target price on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $28.50. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 2.73% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on AA. B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of Alcoa from $25.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Alcoa from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Alcoa from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Alcoa from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Alcoa from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.54.

Alcoa Stock Performance

Shares of Alcoa stock opened at $35.53 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Alcoa has a twelve month low of $23.07 and a twelve month high of $42.23. The stock has a market cap of $6.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 2.47. The company’s fifty day moving average is $31.14 and its 200 day moving average is $29.09.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The industrial products company reported ($0.81) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $2.60 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.23) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alcoa will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alcoa

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

Institutional Trading of Alcoa

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AA. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in Alcoa in the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in Alcoa in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alcoa in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Alcoa in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new stake in Alcoa in the 4th quarter worth $31,000.

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.