Ternium (NYSE:TX) Trading Up 3.1% – Time to Buy?

Ternium S.A. (NYSE:TX)’s stock price traded up 3.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $34.46 and last traded at $34.45. 30,538 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 206,298 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.42.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Ternium from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ternium presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.33.

Ternium Stock Up 2.3 %

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.72. The company has a current ratio of 2.92, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market capitalization of $6.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 1.77.

Ternium (NYSE:TX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.04. Ternium had a net margin of 0.42% and a return on equity of 4.70%. The firm had revenue of $4.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.38 EPS. Ternium’s revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ternium S.A. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Ternium Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a yield of 8.5%. Ternium’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 450.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ternium

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. acquired a new stake in Ternium in the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,566,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Ternium during the third quarter worth approximately $6,743,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Ternium by 422.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 174,572 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,443,000 after acquiring an additional 141,134 shares in the last quarter. Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. purchased a new position in Ternium in the first quarter worth approximately $5,426,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Ternium by 43.0% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 258,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,710,000 after acquiring an additional 77,800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 11.98% of the company’s stock.

About Ternium

Ternium SA, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes steel products in Mexico, Southern Region, Brazil, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Steel, Mining, and Usiminas. The Steel segment offers slabs, hot and cold rolled products, coated products, roll formed and tubular products, bars, billets, and other products.