Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX)

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 5,803 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 286% compared to the average daily volume of 1,502 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CENX has been the topic of several analyst reports. B. Riley raised their price target on shares of Century Aluminum from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Century Aluminum from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 9th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jesse E. Gary sold 29,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.97, for a total transaction of $554,739.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 50,753 shares in the company, valued at $962,784.41. This represents a 36.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Century Aluminum

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CENX. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Century Aluminum by 1,607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 22,849,097 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $370,841,000 after acquiring an additional 21,510,639 shares in the last quarter. Pertento Partners LLP bought a new position in Century Aluminum during the 4th quarter valued at about $7,678,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Century Aluminum by 348.4% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 496,970 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,055,000 after purchasing an additional 386,133 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Century Aluminum by 49.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 959,033 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,565,000 after purchasing an additional 319,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Yaupon Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Century Aluminum by 401.5% during the 3rd quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP now owns 322,024 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,226,000 after purchasing an additional 257,812 shares during the last quarter. 61.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Century Aluminum Stock Down 7.4 %

Century Aluminum stock opened at $20.16 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.74 and a beta of 2.50. Century Aluminum has a 1-year low of $9.65 and a 1-year high of $25.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.75.

Century Aluminum Company Profile

Century Aluminum Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production of standard-grade and value-added primary aluminum products in the United States and Iceland. It also owns and operates an alumina production facility in Iceland, and a carbon anode production facility in the Netherlands.