Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) Upgraded by Barclays to Hold Rating

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) was upgraded by investment analysts at Barclays to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research cut Commercial Metals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. KeyCorp began coverage on Commercial Metals in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. They set a “sector weight” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Commercial Metals from $83.00 to $78.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Commercial Metals in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $74.00 target price for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Commercial Metals in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.82.

Commercial Metals Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CMC opened at $71.87 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $7.97 billion, a PE ratio of 16.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.49. Commercial Metals has a fifty-two week low of $45.50 and a fifty-two week high of $84.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 2.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $65.93 and a 200-day moving average of $68.84.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The basic materials company reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $2.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.10 billion. Commercial Metals had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 13.54%. Commercial Metals’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Commercial Metals will post 6.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Commercial Metals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its stake in Commercial Metals by 430.9% during the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 29,247 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,675,000 after purchasing an additional 23,738 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Commercial Metals during the third quarter worth about $821,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Commercial Metals by 6.6% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,823,923 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $104,474,000 after purchasing an additional 112,267 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Commercial Metals by 7.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 884,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $50,670,000 after purchasing an additional 64,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Commercial Metals by 14.1% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 459,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,329,000 after purchasing an additional 56,705 shares during the last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Commercial Metals

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.