John Mcpherson Purchases 1,390 Shares of Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) Stock

Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) Director John Mcpherson acquired 1,390 shares of Commercial Metals stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $71.92 per share, with a total value of $99,968.80. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 21,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,576,989.84. The trade was a 6.77% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Commercial Metals Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of CMC opened at $72.21 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.60, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.52. Commercial Metals Company has a 52 week low of $53.08 and a 52 week high of $84.87. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $69.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. Commercial Metals had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 6.72%.The company had revenue of $2.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.40 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. Commercial Metals’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Commercial Metals Company will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Commercial Metals declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 5th that permits the company to repurchase $600.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Commercial Metals Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 6th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 6th. Commercial Metals’s payout ratio is 15.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Commercial Metals from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Commercial Metals from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. UBS Group upgraded Commercial Metals from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $79.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Commercial Metals from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Commercial Metals from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Commercial Metals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.18.

Institutional Trading of Commercial Metals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CMC. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted 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 valued at $1,606,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Commercial Metals by 3.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 23,554 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,630,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,164 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

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.