Van ECK Associates Corp Grows Position in Commercial Metals Company $CMC

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) by 180.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 786,142 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 505,599 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Commercial Metals were worth $49,330,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Commercial Metals during the second quarter valued at $954,989,000. Artemis Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in Commercial Metals in the fourth quarter valued at $103,962,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Commercial Metals in the fourth quarter worth about $97,983,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Commercial Metals in the second quarter worth about $84,320,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Commercial Metals during the 2nd quarter worth about $59,572,000. 86.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Commercial Metals

In other news, CEO Peter R. Matt acquired 8,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $61.30 per share, with a total value of $504,499.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 181,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,127,298.60. This trade represents a 4.75% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John R. Mcpherson acquired 1,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $71.92 per share, with a total value of $99,968.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 21,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,576,989.84. The trade was a 6.77% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CMC shares. Weiss Ratings cut Commercial Metals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Commercial Metals from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. UBS Group raised Commercial Metals from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $79.00 to $89.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Commercial Metals from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Commercial Metals from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.18.

Commercial Metals Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE CMC opened at $67.55 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a 50-day moving average of $68.02 and a 200 day moving average of $69.40. Commercial Metals Company has a 12-month low of $53.08 and a 12-month high of $84.87. The stock has a market cap of $7.47 billion, a PE ratio of 12.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.52.

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

Commercial Metals announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, August 5th that permits the company to buyback $600.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the basic materials company to reacquire up to 7.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Commercial Metals Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 6th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Commercial Metals’s payout ratio is presently 15.07%.

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.