HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 11,143 Shares of Commercial Metals Company $CMC

HighTower Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 41,028 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 11,143 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Commercial Metals were worth $2,350,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Commercial Metals during the second quarter worth approximately $70,402,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in Commercial Metals during the third quarter worth $54,394,000. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Commercial Metals during the 2nd quarter valued at $34,225,000. Thomist Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Commercial Metals in the 2nd quarter valued at $14,950,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Commercial Metals by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,193,930 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $156,215,000 after purchasing an additional 290,256 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CMC shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Commercial Metals from $68.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Commercial Metals from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $64.00 to $78.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $84.00 price objective on shares of Commercial Metals in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Commercial Metals from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Commercial Metals from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Commercial Metals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.70.

Commercial Metals Price Performance

Shares of CMC stock opened at $73.22 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.58. Commercial Metals Company has a one year low of $37.92 and a one year high of $84.87. The firm has a market cap of $8.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 4.47 and a quick ratio of 3.70.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 8th. The basic materials company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.29. Commercial Metals had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 5.46%.The company had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.06 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Commercial Metals Company will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commercial Metals Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 19th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 16th. Commercial Metals’s payout ratio is presently 18.56%.

Insider Activity at Commercial Metals

In other Commercial Metals news, Director Dennis V. Arriola purchased 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $74.69 per share, with a total value of $149,380.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,238 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $689,986.22. This trade represents a 27.63% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jennifer J. Durbin sold 25,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.97, for a total value of $2,003,248.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 52,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,228,813.60. This represents a 32.14% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Commercial Metals Company 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.