Morgan Stanley Upgrades Alcoa (NYSE:AA) to Overweight

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) was upgraded by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $80.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $64.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 11.41% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Alcoa in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Alcoa from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Alcoa from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday, March 13th. B. Riley Financial boosted their target price on shares of Alcoa from $78.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Alcoa from $54.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.09.

Alcoa Trading Down 1.6%

NYSE:AA opened at $71.81 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $62.27 and a 200-day moving average of $50.95. The company has a market cap of $18.95 billion, a PE ratio of 16.25 and a beta of 1.70. Alcoa has a one year low of $21.53 and a one year high of $73.38.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The industrial products company reported $1.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $6.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.28 billion. Alcoa had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 16.19%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alcoa will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alcoa by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,682 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $568,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC grew its position in shares of Alcoa by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 57,940 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,079,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alcoa by 74.1% during the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 557 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 237 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Alcoa by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 13,596 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $722,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in shares of Alcoa by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 22,497 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $740,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the period.

Alcoa Company Profile

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.