Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $72.70.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CMC shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $85.00 price target on shares of Commercial Metals and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Commercial Metals from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Commercial Metals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Commercial Metals in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Commercial Metals from $68.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th.

Commercial Metals Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE CMC opened at $75.31 on Friday. Commercial Metals has a twelve month low of $37.92 and a twelve month high of $76.21. The stock has a market cap of $8.35 billion, a PE ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.49. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 3.70 and a current ratio of 4.47.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 8th. The basic materials company reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.06 billion. Commercial Metals had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 5.46%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Commercial Metals will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Commercial Metals Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 19th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 16th. Commercial Metals’s payout ratio is currently 18.56%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Commercial Metals

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 90,989 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,186,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in Commercial Metals by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Commercial Metals by 614.9% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 11,767 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $541,000 after purchasing an additional 10,121 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Commercial Metals by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,033,514 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,552,000 after acquiring an additional 56,875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 1.8% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 53,305 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 941 shares during the last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Commercial Metals Company 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.