CEMEX (NYSE:CX) Upgraded to Sector Perform at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of CEMEX (NYSE:CX) from an underperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $6.50 target price on the construction company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $9.00.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays raised CEMEX from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and set a $9.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of CEMEX in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. They set a buy rating and a $9.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CEMEX from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an overweight rating and set a $8.00 price target on shares of CEMEX in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CEMEX presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $8.12.

CEMEX Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of CEMEX stock opened at $6.15 on Tuesday. CEMEX has a 1-year low of $5.50 and a 1-year high of $9.27. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.90 billion, a PE ratio of 51.21 and a beta of 1.47.

CEMEX (NYSE:CX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The construction company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $4.49 billion for the quarter. CEMEX had a return on equity of 1.66% and a net margin of 1.05%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CEMEX will post 0.79 earnings per share for the current year.

CEMEX Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a Variable dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.021 dividend. This represents a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. CEMEX’s payout ratio is currently 33.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CEMEX

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of CEMEX by 28.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 19,057,965 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $121,113,000 after buying an additional 4,217,562 shares during the last quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC increased its holdings in shares of CEMEX by 32.3% in the second quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 15,555,171 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $99,398,000 after purchasing an additional 3,796,262 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd raised its holdings in shares of CEMEX by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 10,014,640 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $61,089,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,379 shares during the period. Moneda S.A. Administradora General de Fondos increased its position in CEMEX by 92.1% during the first quarter. Moneda S.A. Administradora General de Fondos now owns 2,040,397 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $18,384,000 after purchasing an additional 978,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in CEMEX by 6,721.1% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 867,845 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,546,000 after purchasing an additional 855,122 shares during the period. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About CEMEX

CEMEX, SAB. de C.V., together with its subsidiaries, produces, markets, distributes, and sells cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, urbanization solutions, and other construction materials and services worldwide. The company offers gray ordinary portland, white portland, oil-well, and blended cement products; mortar; and standard ready-mix, architectural and decorative, rapid-setting, fiber-reinforced, fluid-fill, roller-compacted, self-consolidating, pervious, and antibacterial, and other concrete products.