Royce & Associates LP Has $3.31 Million Stock Holdings in Centrus Energy Corp. $LEU

Royce & Associates LP cut its stake in Centrus Energy Corp. (NYSE:LEU) by 31.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 13,632 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,346 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Centrus Energy were worth $3,309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEU. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Centrus Energy by 78.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 442,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $137,132,000 after acquiring an additional 194,909 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Centrus Energy by 25.9% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 780,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $242,161,000 after purchasing an additional 160,482 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in Centrus Energy by 16,538.1% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 101,326 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,598,000 after purchasing an additional 100,717 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Centrus Energy by 8.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,072,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $332,432,000 after purchasing an additional 86,509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new position in Centrus Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,775,000. 49.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on LEU shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Centrus Energy from $224.00 to $218.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $246.00 price objective on shares of Centrus Energy in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. B. Riley Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Centrus Energy from $315.00 to $295.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Northland Securities set a $285.00 price objective on shares of Centrus Energy in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Centrus Energy from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $268.18.

Centrus Energy Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:LEU opened at $182.80 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $192.47 and a 200-day moving average of $231.67. The company has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a PE ratio of 60.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 23.43 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 4.88 and a current ratio of 5.72. Centrus Energy Corp. has a 52-week low of $117.64 and a 52-week high of $464.25.

Centrus Energy (NYSE:LEU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.72. The company had revenue of $76.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.13 million. Centrus Energy had a net margin of 13.40% and a return on equity of 13.10%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.60 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Centrus Energy Corp. will post 2.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Todd M. Tinelli sold 306 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.55, for a total transaction of $62,286.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

About Centrus Energy

Centrus Energy Corp is a U.S.-based supplier of nuclear fuel and enrichment services, specializing in the production of low-enriched uranium (LEU) for commercial power reactors and highly enriched uranium for naval propulsion. Through its Centrus Global subsidiary, the company provides technical support, fuel fabrication services and recycled uranium products to utilities operating light-water reactors. Centrus also develops advanced centrifuge technologies aimed at improving enrichment efficiency and reducing the cost of nuclear fuel.

Originally founded as the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) in 1998 following a spin-out from the U.S.