ALCOA INC. CUT TO “SELL” AT THE ZACKS INVESTMENT RESEARCH

Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:AA) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Thursday.

According to Zacks, “Alcoa’s revenues and adjusted earnings for third-quarter 2016 missed the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate. Lower alumina prices dragged down its sales in the quarter. Alcoa remains on track to complete its business separation. While the company should gain from its productivity actions, weak metals pricing may continue to hurt its revenues. The company's downstream business is also seeing sustained pricing pressure. Moreover, Alcoa is exposed to weakness in the heavy duty truck and trailer market in North America and building and construction market in Europe.”

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America Corp. reissued a buy rating and set a $11.00 target price on shares of Alcoa in a report on Tuesday, July 12th. Credit Suisse Group AG reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Alcoa in a report on Thursday, June 30th. Macquarie reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Alcoa in a report on Tuesday, July 12th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Alcoa in a report on Friday, July 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $12.00 price objective on shares of Alcoa in a report on Tuesday, August 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Alcoa presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $18.55.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) opened at 26.86 on Thursday. The company’s market cap is $11.78 billion. Alcoa has a one year low of $18.42 and a one year high of $34.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $28.88 and a 200-day moving average of $29.72.

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 11th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.21. Alcoa had a negative net margin of 0.88% and a positive return on equity of 3.87%. The firm earned $5.21 billion during the quarter. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.07 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Alcoa will post $1.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 4th will be issued a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 2nd. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Alcoa’s payout ratio is -63.15%.

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Alcoa by 2.9% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 118,489,630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,098,398,000 after buying an additional 3,387,829 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Advisors LLC raised its position in Alcoa by 13.5% in the second quarter. First Pacific Advisors LLC now owns 64,456,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $597,509,000 after buying an additional 7,650,380 shares during the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd purchased a new position in Alcoa during the first quarter valued at $374,584,000. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company N.A. raised its position in Alcoa by 3.2% in the second quarter. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company N.A. now owns 34,741,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,050,000 after buying an additional 1,074,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alcoa by 2.3% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,720,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $102,493,000 after buying an additional 240,383 shares during the last quarter.

About Alcoa

Alcoa Inc is engaged in lightweight metals engineering and manufacturing. The Company operates in five segments: Alumina, Primary Metals, Global Rolled Products, Engineered Products and Solutions, and Transportation and Construction Solutions. The Company’s multi-material products, which include aluminum, titanium and nickel, are used across the world in aerospace, automobiles, commercial transportation, packaging, building and construction, defense, consumer electronics, oil and gas, and industrial applications.