Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $72.02 and last traded at $71.77, with a volume of 585665 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $69.22.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Commercial Metals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Commercial Metals from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, October 17th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Commercial Metals in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Commercial Metals from $68.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Commercial Metals from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $57.50 to $68.00 in a report on Friday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Commercial Metals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.30.

Commercial Metals Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $7.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $64.16 and its 200-day moving average is $58.32. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.10 billion. Commercial Metals had a net margin of 1.09% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Commercial Metals Company will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Commercial Metals Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 30th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 30th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Commercial Metals’s dividend payout ratio is 94.74%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Commercial Metals

In other news, Director John R. Mcpherson acquired 1,722 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $58.09 per share, for a total transaction of $100,030.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $390,480.98. This trade represents a 34.44% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Commercial Metals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CMC. State Street Corp grew its position in Commercial Metals by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,270,373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $359,167,000 after acquiring an additional 161,195 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 1.9% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,641,930 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $208,629,000 after buying an additional 67,139 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 10.0% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,193,930 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $156,215,000 after buying an additional 290,256 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Commercial Metals by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,823,923 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $104,474,000 after buying an additional 112,267 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Commercial Metals by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,661,027 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $95,144,000 after acquiring an additional 76,365 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

About Commercial Metals

Commercial Metals Company (NYSE: CMC) is a leading global steel and metal recycler, manufacturer and fabricator based in Irving, Texas. The company operates an integrated network of scrap recycling facilities, electric arc furnace steel mills, metal fabrication plants and distribution centers. Through these operations, Commercial Metals collects and processes ferrous scrap to produce finished steel products and provides recycled metal to a variety of end markets.

In its steelmaking segment, CMC uses electric arc furnace technology to transform recycled scrap into reinforcing bar (rebar), merchant bar, coil and structural products.