Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) Sets New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $47.41 and last traded at $47.74, with a volume of 658747 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.89.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CMC. BNP Paribas downgraded Commercial Metals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Commercial Metals in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Commercial Metals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. UBS Group upgraded shares of Commercial Metals from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $56.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of Commercial Metals from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Commercial Metals has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.83.

Commercial Metals Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $56.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.78. The stock has a market cap of $5.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.36, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.19.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78. Commercial Metals had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 6.13%. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.49 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Commercial Metals will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Commercial Metals Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Commercial Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.39%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Commercial Metals

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CMC. Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its stake in Commercial Metals by 36.3% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 7,635 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 2,032 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 248,166 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,381,000 after acquiring an additional 8,226 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 56.6% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,611 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $130,000 after acquiring an additional 944 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Commercial Metals by 6.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,081,153 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $59,420,000 after acquiring an additional 66,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Commercial Metals by 1.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,714,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $94,208,000 after purchasing an additional 17,931 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Commercial Metals Company Profile

Commercial Metals Company manufactures, recycles, and fabricates steel and metal products, and related materials and services in the United States, Poland, China, and internationally. It operates through two segments, North America and Europe. The company processes and sells ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals to steel mills and foundries, aluminum sheet and ingot manufacturers, brass and bronze ingot makers, copper refineries and mills, secondary lead smelters, specialty steel mills, high temperature alloy manufacturers, and other consumers.