Virtus Advisers LLC Invests $587,000 in Commercial Metals Company $CMC

Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 9,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $587,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Commercial Metals by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 23,199 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,606,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Commercial Metals by 4.2% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Commercial Metals by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,904 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 23,554 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,630,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,164 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Commercial Metals Stock Down 4.1%

CMC stock opened at $65.36 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a 50-day moving average of $68.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.93. Commercial Metals Company has a 52-week low of $53.08 and a 52-week high of $84.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.54.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. Commercial Metals had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 6.72%.The business had revenue of $2.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Commercial Metals Company will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Commercial Metals announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $600.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the basic materials company to purchase up to 7.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Commercial Metals Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 6th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 6th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Commercial Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.07%.

Insider Activity at Commercial Metals

In other Commercial Metals news, Director John R. Mcpherson purchased 1,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $71.92 per share, with a total value of $99,968.80. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 21,927 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter R. Matt purchased 8,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $61.30 per share, with a total value of $504,499.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 181,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,127,298.60. The trade was a 4.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Commercial Metals from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Commercial Metals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. BNP Paribas Exane raised Commercial Metals from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Commercial Metals from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Commercial Metals from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Commercial Metals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.18.

Commercial Metals Profile

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.