Alcoa (NYSE:AA) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Alcoa Co. (NYSE:AA) shares hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $46.60 and last traded at $46.57, with a volume of 2143745 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $45.74.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AA shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Alcoa from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. B. Riley raised Alcoa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $41.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Alcoa from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. B. Riley Financial restated a “neutral” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of Alcoa in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alcoa from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $36.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alcoa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.75.

Alcoa Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.82, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 2.42. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $40.47 and its 200-day moving average is $37.94.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The industrial products company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.34. Alcoa had a negative return on equity of 1.45% and a negative net margin of 2.65%. The business had revenue of $2.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.14) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Alcoa Co. will post 0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alcoa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 29th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 29th. Alcoa’s dividend payout ratio is currently -22.73%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Renato Bacchi sold 23,867 shares of Alcoa stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.29, for a total value of $1,009,335.43. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 57,317 shares in the company, valued at $2,423,935.93. The trade was a 29.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alcoa

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AA. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC lifted its position in Alcoa by 4,023.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 10,795,880 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $416,505,000 after acquiring an additional 10,534,036 shares in the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Alcoa during the second quarter valued at approximately $93,061,000. L1 Capital Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Alcoa during the first quarter valued at approximately $72,658,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Alcoa by 23.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,563,645 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $368,965,000 after buying an additional 1,805,915 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co raised its position in Alcoa by 11,317.8% in the 3rd quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 1,427,799 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,084,000 after buying an additional 1,415,294 shares during the last quarter.

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.