Arizona State Retirement System Lowers Position in Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC)

Arizona State Retirement System lowered its stake in Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 32,681 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 571 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Commercial Metals were worth $1,635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 16,103,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $787,457,000 after acquiring an additional 272,913 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Commercial Metals by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,226,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $550,481,000 after purchasing an additional 142,062 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Commercial Metals by 22.3% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,494,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $312,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,367,997 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Commercial Metals by 26.7% during the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,506,247 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $123,834,000 after purchasing an additional 527,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Commercial Metals during the fourth quarter worth $114,477,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CMC shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Commercial Metals from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Commercial Metals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Commercial Metals in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Commercial Metals news, Chairman Barbara Smith sold 142,806 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.89, for a total value of $7,124,591.34. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 213,379 shares in the company, valued at $10,645,478.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Commercial Metals news, Chairman Barbara Smith sold 142,806 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.89, for a total value of $7,124,591.34. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 213,379 shares in the company, valued at $10,645,478.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Lindsay L. Sloan sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.52, for a total transaction of $30,912.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,338 shares in the company, valued at approximately $635,653.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 320,089 shares of company stock worth $16,383,553. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Commercial Metals Trading Down 2.4 %

CMC opened at $55.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 4.19 and a quick ratio of 2.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.59 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $55.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.89. Commercial Metals has a 12 month low of $39.85 and a 12 month high of $59.81.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The basic materials company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by ($0.05). Commercial Metals had a return on equity of 17.72% and a net margin of 8.09%. The company had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Commercial Metals will post 5.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commercial Metals Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 10th. Stockholders 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. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. Commercial Metals’s payout ratio is 12.50%.

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.