Cemex (NYSE:CX) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Cemex (NYSE:CX) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on CX. Wall Street Zen raised Cemex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Cemex from $7.00 to $8.25 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cemex in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Cemex from $11.10 to $13.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Cemex in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cemex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.04.

Cemex Stock Performance

Shares of CX opened at $12.94 on Monday. Cemex has a 12 month low of $4.89 and a 12 month high of $13.35. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $12.06 and a 200 day moving average of $10.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $18.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.60, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.61.

Cemex (NYSE:CX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The construction company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.38). Cemex had a return on equity of 2.85% and a net margin of 5.93%.The company had revenue of $4.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cemex will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Cemex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th were issued a $0.0224 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Cemex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.64%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cemex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Cemex by 334.7% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 9,189 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 7,075 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cemex by 58.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,187,143 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $40,320,000 after purchasing an additional 2,661,030 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cemex during the second quarter worth about $70,000. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cemex by 7.3% in the second quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 25,159 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $174,000 after purchasing an additional 1,710 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Cemex by 16.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 14,819 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,068 shares during the period. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Cemex

Cemex (NYSE: CX) is a global building materials company headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico. The company produces, distributes and sells cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates, as well as related building materials, to construction markets in more than 50 countries. Cemex’s product portfolio also includes asphalt and mortar mixes, waste-derived fuels and other complementary construction solutions, supported by a network of production facilities, distribution centers and logistics operations.

Founded in 1906 as Cementos Hidalgo, the company adopted the Cemex name in 1976 following a series of domestic mergers and expansions.