Commercial Metals Company $CMC Shares Sold by Royce & Associates LP

Royce & Associates LP decreased its stake in Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 491,792 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 114,695 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Commercial Metals were worth $28,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,109,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $299,898,000 after acquiring an additional 71,703 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Commercial Metals by 10.0% during the second 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 in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 6.6% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,823,923 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $104,474,000 after buying an additional 112,267 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,584,662 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $77,506,000 after buying an additional 16,641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Commercial Metals during the 2nd quarter worth $70,402,000. 86.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Commercial Metals from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $85.00 price objective on Commercial Metals and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Commercial Metals from $68.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Commercial Metals from $68.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Commercial Metals from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.70.

Insider Transactions at Commercial Metals

In other news, insider Jennifer J. Durbin sold 25,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.97, for a total value of $2,003,248.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 52,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,228,813.60. This represents a 32.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Dennis V. Arriola bought 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $74.69 per share, for a total transaction of $149,380.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 9,238 shares in the company, valued at approximately $689,986.22. This trade represents a 27.63% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Commercial Metals Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of CMC stock opened at $73.22 on Monday. Commercial Metals Company has a 1-year low of $37.92 and a 1-year high of $84.87. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.70. The firm has a market cap of $8.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.87, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.47. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 8th. The basic materials company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. Commercial Metals had a net margin of 5.46% and a return on equity of 11.43%. Commercial Metals’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Commercial Metals Company will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Commercial Metals Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 16th. Commercial Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.56%.

Commercial Metals 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.