Short Interest in CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:CX) Decreases By 17.1%

CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:CX) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,930,000 shares, a decline of 17.1% from the February 28th total of 21,640,000 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 10,300,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of CEMEX from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of CEMEX from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded CEMEX from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CEMEX has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $7.82.

Institutional Trading of CEMEX

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dodge & Cox increased its position in CEMEX by 7,200.6% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 49,622,009 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $279,868,000 after purchasing an additional 48,942,309 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in shares of CEMEX by 745.6% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 26,739,107 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $150,809,000 after purchasing an additional 23,576,914 shares during the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd bought a new position in CEMEX during the 4th quarter valued at $86,056,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in CEMEX by 30.6% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 40,745,819 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $229,806,000 after purchasing an additional 9,541,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of CEMEX by 123.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,441,466 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $88,093,000 after acquiring an additional 7,986,204 shares in the last quarter. 82.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CEMEX Stock Performance

Shares of CX traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $5.68. 11,354,023 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,756,371. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.89. The firm has a market cap of $8.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.02 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. CEMEX has a 52 week low of $5.00 and a 52 week high of $9.27.

CEMEX (NYSE:CX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The construction company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.06. CEMEX had a net margin of 5.70% and a return on equity of 7.78%. On average, equities research analysts expect that CEMEX will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

CEMEX Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.0207 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. CEMEX’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.70%.

CEMEX Company Profile

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.