Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on CMC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Commercial Metals from $83.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 9th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Commercial Metals from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Commercial Metals in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Commercial Metals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Commercial Metals from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Commercial Metals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.45.

Commercial Metals Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of CMC stock opened at $64.59 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.00, a PEG ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 1.53. Commercial Metals has a 1-year low of $55.97 and a 1-year high of $84.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.37.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 15th. The basic materials company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.14. Commercial Metals had a net margin of 6.98% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The business had revenue of $2.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Commercial Metals will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Commercial Metals Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 28th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Commercial Metals’s payout ratio is presently 13.63%.

Commercial Metals announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, August 5th that allows the company to repurchase $600.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to reacquire up to 7.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Share buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Commercial Metals

In other Commercial Metals news, Director John McPherson purchased 1,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $71.92 per share, for a total transaction of $99,968.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 21,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,576,989.84. This represents a 6.77% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Commercial Metals

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Commercial Metals during the second quarter worth about $954,989,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 87.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,631,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $100,205,000 after buying an additional 760,985 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 0.9% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 977,024 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $60,019,000 after buying an additional 8,911 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 180.2% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 786,142 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,330,000 after buying an additional 505,599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Commercial Metals in the second quarter valued at about $36,800,000. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Commercial Metals

Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) is a steel and metals manufacturer, recycler and fabricator headquartered in Irving, Texas. The company produces and sells steel products used in construction, infrastructure and industrial applications, including reinforcing bar, wire rod, merchant bar, structural steel and related products.

CMC operates an integrated recycling and manufacturing model. Its recycling facilities collect and process ferrous and nonferrous scrap metal, which is used as raw material in the company’s electric-arc-furnace steel mills.