Bailard Inc. Sells 14,044 Shares of Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC)

Bailard Inc. lessened its stake in Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) by 77.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 14,044 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Commercial Metals were worth $205,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,450,082 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $615,159,000 after acquiring an additional 487,792 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Commercial Metals by 26.7% in the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,506,247 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $123,834,000 after buying an additional 527,709 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Commercial Metals by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,385,435 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $68,454,000 after buying an additional 335,926 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Commercial Metals by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,182,690 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $58,437,000 after buying an additional 32,217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Commercial Metals by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 703,881 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,779,000 after acquiring an additional 167,865 shares during the period. 86.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CMC shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Commercial Metals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Commercial Metals from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Commercial Metals in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock.

Commercial Metals Stock Performance

CMC opened at $54.89 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $6.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.53 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.42. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 4.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Commercial Metals has a 52-week low of $39.85 and a 52-week high of $59.81.

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

Commercial Metals Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Commercial Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. Commercial Metals’s payout ratio is presently 12.50%.

Insider Transactions at Commercial Metals

In other news, Chairman Barbara Smith sold 60,166 shares of Commercial Metals stock in a transaction on 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 owns 96,019 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,923,854.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 119,489 shares of company stock worth $6,371,781 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.00% 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.