Cemex (NYSE:CX) Upgraded to “Overweight” at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Cemex (NYSE:CX) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have $14.00 price target on the construction company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on CX. Zacks Research lowered shares of Cemex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cemex in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cemex in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. HSBC lowered Cemex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $12.80 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Cemex from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $13.50 to $13.90 in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cemex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.38.

Cemex Price Performance

CX opened at $10.63 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $15.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.10 and a beta of 1.60. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $12.05 and a 200 day moving average of $10.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.83. Cemex has a fifty-two week low of $4.89 and a fifty-two week high of $13.35.

Cemex (NYSE:CX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The construction company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $4.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. Cemex had a return on equity of 2.85% and a net margin of 5.93%. On average, research analysts expect that Cemex will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

Cemex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th were issued a $0.0225 dividend. This is a boost from Cemex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Cemex’s payout ratio is 13.64%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cemex

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dodge & Cox boosted its holdings in shares of Cemex by 1.8% in the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 96,734,370 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $869,642,000 after acquiring an additional 1,710,535 shares during the period. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its stake in shares of Cemex by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 36,132,733 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $415,165,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225,219 shares during the period. Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Cemex by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 32,648,163 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $226,252,000 after purchasing an additional 2,337,817 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in Cemex by 406.2% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 26,348,884 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $302,749,000 after purchasing an additional 21,143,554 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Cemex by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 21,191,754 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $243,494,000 after purchasing an additional 2,182,666 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

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.