Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Cuts Holdings in Commercial Metals Company $CMC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC decreased its stake in Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) by 16.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 132,173 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 25,346 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Commercial Metals were worth $8,294,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Qsemble Capital Management LP increased its stake in Commercial Metals by 118.6% in the 4th quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 49,885 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,453,000 after purchasing an additional 27,062 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in Commercial Metals by 11.5% during the first quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 277,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,070,000 after purchasing an additional 28,693 shares in the last quarter. NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Commercial Metals in the fourth quarter valued at $12,600,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 87.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,631,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $100,205,000 after buying an additional 760,985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Commercial Metals in the fourth quarter valued at $103,962,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Commercial Metals Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:CMC opened at $72.13 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.52. Commercial Metals Company has a 1-year low of $53.08 and a 1-year high of $84.87. The company’s fifty day moving average is $69.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.33.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. Commercial Metals had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 6.72%.Commercial Metals’s quarterly revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Commercial Metals Company will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Commercial Metals Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 6th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Commercial Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.07%.

Commercial Metals announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, August 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $600.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CMC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Commercial Metals from $84.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Commercial Metals in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings raised Commercial Metals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Commercial Metals from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Commercial Metals to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Commercial Metals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Commercial Metals

In other Commercial Metals news, CEO Peter R. Matt acquired 8,230 shares of Commercial Metals stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $61.30 per share, for a total transaction of $504,499.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 181,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,127,298.60. This represents a 4.75% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

About Commercial Metals

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.