Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $72.70.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CMC shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Commercial Metals from $68.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Commercial Metals from $68.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Commercial Metals from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $64.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Commercial Metals in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Commercial Metals from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th.

Commercial Metals Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CMC opened at $82.94 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $73.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 4.47 and a quick ratio of 3.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.38, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.49. Commercial Metals has a one year low of $37.92 and a one year high of $84.12.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 8th. The basic materials company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. Commercial Metals had a net margin of 5.46% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Commercial Metals will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commercial Metals Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jennifer J. Durbin sold 25,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.97, for a total transaction of $2,003,248.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 52,880 shares in the company, valued at $4,228,813.60. This trade represents a 32.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Dennis V. Arriola purchased 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $74.69 per share, for a total transaction of $149,380.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 9,238 shares in the company, valued at approximately $689,986.22. This trade represents a 27.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Commercial Metals

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CMC. Arista Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Commercial Metals in the fourth quarter worth approximately $346,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Commercial Metals by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,926,864 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $202,626,000 after buying an additional 86,749 shares during the period. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Commercial Metals by 340.5% in the 4th quarter. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,520 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,251,000 after acquiring an additional 25,137 shares during the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 7,195 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,134 shares during the period. Finally, Genus Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Commercial Metals during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,531,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

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.