Cemex (NYSE:CX) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cemex (NYSE:CX) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Zacks Research downgraded Cemex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Cemex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $14.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $12.75 price objective on shares of Cemex in a report on Friday. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Cemex from $13.90 to $14.10 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, HSBC downgraded Cemex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $12.80 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, February 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.77.

Cemex Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CX opened at $12.37 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $17.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.65 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.83. Cemex has a one year low of $5.57 and a one year high of $13.35. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.30.

Cemex (NYSE:CX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The construction company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.86 billion. Cemex had a return on equity of 3.62% and a net margin of 2.74%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cemex will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cemex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were given a $0.0225 dividend. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 11th. This is a positive change from Cemex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. Cemex’s payout ratio is 28.13%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Cemex by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 16,802 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $193,000 after acquiring an additional 913 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Cemex by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 319,835 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,875,000 after purchasing an additional 1,221 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in Cemex by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 24,201 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 1,268 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Cemex by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 28,609 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC boosted its position in Cemex by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 19,598 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 1,380 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

Cemex Company Profile

Cemex (NYSE: CX) is a global building materials company headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico. The company produces, distributes and sells cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates, as well as related building materials, to construction markets in more than 50 countries. Cemex’s product portfolio also includes asphalt and mortar mixes, waste-derived fuels and other complementary construction solutions, supported by a network of production facilities, distribution centers and logistics operations.

Founded in 1906 as Cementos Hidalgo, the company adopted the Cemex name in 1976 following a series of domestic mergers and expansions.