Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) Stock Price

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) had its price objective lifted by Barclays from $72.00 to $77.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on CMC. Wall Street Zen cut Commercial Metals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Commercial Metals in a report on Friday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Commercial Metals from $75.00 to $73.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Weiss Ratings raised Commercial Metals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Commercial Metals in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Commercial Metals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.18.

Commercial Metals Stock Down 2.7%

Commercial Metals stock traded down $1.74 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $62.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,023,189 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,134,011. The company has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 1.55. Commercial Metals has a 12 month low of $57.01 and a 12 month high of $84.87. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 2.34.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 15th. The basic materials company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.14. Commercial Metals had a net margin of 6.98% and a return on equity of 17.00%. The firm had revenue of $2.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.37 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 25.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Commercial Metals will post 6.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Commercial Metals Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 28th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 28th. Commercial Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.63%.

Commercial Metals declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, August 5th that allows the company to repurchase $600 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Commercial Metals

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Commercial Metals by 1.7% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 12,468 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $774,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Commercial Metals in the third quarter valued at $906,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 20.9% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 133,881 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,314,000 after purchasing an additional 23,126 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Commercial Metals in the third quarter valued at about $1,085,000. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC raised its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 28.5% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,781 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 1,059 shares during the period. 86.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Commercial Metals

Commercial Metals Company (CMC) is a metals recycling, manufacturing and construction-services company. Its operations span the collection and processing of ferrous and nonferrous scrap, which can be used as raw material for steelmaking, and the production of steel and other metal products. CMC manufactures products including reinforcing bar, merchant bar, wire rod and other steel products used in construction and industrial applications. The company also provides construction-related products and services, including steel fabrication and engineered solutions for infrastructure projects.