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

Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $72.70.

CMC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Commercial Metals from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $64.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Commercial Metals in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Commercial Metals from $68.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $84.00 price target on shares of Commercial Metals in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Commercial Metals in a research report on Monday, October 27th.

Commercial Metals Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of CMC stock opened at $75.99 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.49. Commercial Metals has a 1 year low of $37.92 and a 1 year high of $76.21. The company has a current ratio of 4.47, a quick ratio of 3.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.99.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 8th. The basic materials company reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Commercial Metals will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commercial Metals Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, January 19th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 16th. Commercial Metals’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Commercial Metals news, Director John R. Mcpherson bought 1,722 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $58.09 per share, for a total transaction of $100,030.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $390,480.98. The trade was a 34.44% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Commercial Metals

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CMC. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Commercial Metals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Rothschild Investment LLC grew its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 169.6% during the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 515 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 282.3% during the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 692 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 511 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 42.4% during the third quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 615 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 51.4% in the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 890 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.