Easterly Investment Partners LLC Lowers Holdings in Commercial Metals Company $CMC

Easterly Investment Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) by 26.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 320,825 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 112,680 shares during the quarter. Commercial Metals makes up about 1.4% of Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Easterly Investment Partners LLC owned 0.29% of Commercial Metals worth $22,208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMC. Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new stake in Commercial Metals during the fourth quarter worth about $103,962,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Commercial Metals during the fourth quarter worth about $97,983,000. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new stake in Commercial Metals during the third quarter worth about $26,847,000. UBS Group AG grew its stake in Commercial Metals by 41.8% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,521,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,130,000 after buying an additional 448,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Commercial Metals by 44.2% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,013,517 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $58,054,000 after buying an additional 310,431 shares during the last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on CMC shares. Zacks Research cut Commercial Metals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Commercial Metals from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen cut Commercial Metals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 4th. KeyCorp started coverage on Commercial Metals in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. They set a “sector weight” rating on the stock. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Commercial Metals from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $79.00 to $89.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.10.

Commercial Metals Price Performance

Commercial Metals stock opened at $76.21 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.51. The stock has a market cap of $8.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.50. Commercial Metals Company has a 12-month low of $45.50 and a 12-month high of $84.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The basic materials company reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $2.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. Commercial Metals had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 13.54%. Commercial Metals’s revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Commercial Metals Company will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Commercial Metals Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 6th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 6th. This is a boost from Commercial Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Commercial Metals’s payout ratio is 16.04%.

Commercial Metals Profile

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.