Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Alcoa (NYSE:AA)

Alcoa (NYSE:AAGet Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 30,398 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 51% compared to the average volume of 20,117 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Alcoa from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Alcoa from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $64.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research cut shares of Alcoa from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Alcoa from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Alcoa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.60.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on AA

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AA. Mirabella Financial Services LLP grew its position in Alcoa by 12,233.1% in the third quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP now owns 40,082,462 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,318,312,000 after acquiring an additional 39,757,462 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Alcoa by 211.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,254,017 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $332,338,000 after acquiring an additional 4,247,559 shares in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new position in Alcoa in the fourth quarter worth $210,874,000. Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Alcoa in the fourth quarter worth $173,412,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alcoa by 153.4% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,134,425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $219,703,000 after acquiring an additional 2,503,132 shares in the last quarter.

Alcoa Price Performance

Shares of AA traded down $6.72 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $65.70. 6,507,856 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,377,884. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $69.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.84. The company has a market cap of $17.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.63 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Alcoa has a 1 year low of $27.72 and a 1 year high of $84.38.

Alcoa (NYSE:AAGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The industrial products company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by ($0.20). The firm had revenue of $3.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. Alcoa had a net margin of 8.27% and a return on equity of 12.57%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alcoa will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Alcoa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. Alcoa’s payout ratio is 10.13%.

Alcoa Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Alcoa Corporation is a global industry leader in the production and management of aluminum, offering an integrated value chain that spans bauxite mining, alumina refining, primary aluminum smelting and the fabrication of value-added products. The company’s operations are organized into segments that include raw material extraction, chemical processing and the manufacture of metal mill products and engineered solutions.

Alcoa’s product portfolio serves diverse end markets such as aerospace, automotive, packaging, construction, electrical and industrial applications.

Further Reading

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