Cemex (NYSE:CX) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cemex (NYSE:CX) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Cemex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Cemex in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $12.75 price objective on shares of Cemex in a research note on Friday. HSBC lowered shares of Cemex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $12.80 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Cemex from $13.90 to $14.10 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cemex has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.77.

Cemex Stock Down 0.9%

NYSE:CX opened at $12.25 on Friday. Cemex has a 1-year low of $5.85 and a 1-year high of $13.35. The company has a 50-day moving average of $11.54 and a 200 day moving average of $11.33. The firm has a market cap of $17.74 billion, a PE ratio of 38.27 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

Cemex (NYSE:CX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 31st. The construction company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter. Cemex had a net margin of 2.74% and a return on equity of 3.64%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cemex will post 0.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cemex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were issued a $0.0225 dividend. This is a boost from Cemex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. This represents a $0.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 11th. Cemex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.13%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cemex

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lesa Sroufe & Co raised its holdings in Cemex by 1.2% in the first quarter. Lesa Sroufe & Co now owns 380,698 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,355,000 after purchasing an additional 4,681 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in shares of Cemex during the fourth quarter valued at about $627,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cemex during the fourth quarter valued at about $192,000. Dorsey Wright & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Cemex by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 163,570 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,879,000 after acquiring an additional 7,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compound Planning Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cemex by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 40,245 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $462,000 after acquiring an additional 8,191 shares in the last quarter. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Cemex

Cemex (NYSE: CX) is a global building materials company headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico. The company produces, distributes and sells cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates, as well as related building materials, to construction markets in more than 50 countries. Cemex’s product portfolio also includes asphalt and mortar mixes, waste-derived fuels and other complementary construction solutions, supported by a network of production facilities, distribution centers and logistics operations.

Founded in 1906 as Cementos Hidalgo, the company adopted the Cemex name in 1976 following a series of domestic mergers and expansions.