Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) Downgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Thursday morning.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on CMC. UBS Group started coverage on Commercial Metals in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. They set a buy rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Commercial Metals from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd.

Commercial Metals Stock Performance

Commercial Metals stock opened at $55.21 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.59 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $55.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.13. Commercial Metals has a 52 week low of $39.85 and a 52 week high of $59.81. The company has a current ratio of 4.19, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The basic materials company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.93 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. Commercial Metals had a net margin of 8.09% and a return on equity of 17.72%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Commercial Metals will post 5.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Commercial Metals Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a boost from Commercial Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. Commercial Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Barbara Smith sold 60,166 shares of Commercial Metals stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.28, for a total value of $3,085,312.48. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 96,019 shares in the company, valued at $4,923,854.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Chairman Barbara Smith sold 60,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.28, for a total transaction of $3,085,312.48. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 96,019 shares in the company, valued at $4,923,854.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lindsay L. Sloan sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.52, for a total value of $30,912.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,338 shares in the company, valued at $635,653.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 120,089 shares of company stock valued at $6,402,693 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Commercial Metals

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Advisors Preferred LLC raised its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 114.0% during the fourth quarter. Advisors Preferred LLC now owns 60,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,051,000 after purchasing an additional 32,393 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 118,904 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,950,000 after purchasing an additional 22,619 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 270.1% during the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 137,240 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,918,000 after purchasing an additional 100,160 shares during the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 91.3% during the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 91,634 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,528,000 after purchasing an additional 43,734 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC purchased a new position in shares of Commercial Metals during the third quarter valued at approximately $690,000. Institutional investors own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

About Commercial Metals

Commercial Metals Company manufactures, recycles, and fabricates steel and metal products, and related materials and services in the United States, Poland, China, and internationally. It operates through two segments, North America and Europe. The company processes and sells ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals to steel mills and foundries, aluminum sheet and ingot manufacturers, brass and bronze ingot makers, copper refineries and mills, secondary lead smelters, specialty steel mills, high temperature alloy manufacturers, and other consumers.