Virtus Advisers LLC Makes New Investment in Commercial Metals Company $CMC

Virtus Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 9,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $587,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. USA Financial Formulas raised its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 67.6% during the first quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 496 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Commercial Metals in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in Commercial Metals by 617.2% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 832 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 716 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Commercial Metals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Commercial Metals by 105.0% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,222 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on CMC shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Commercial Metals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings raised Commercial Metals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Commercial Metals to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised Commercial Metals from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised Commercial Metals from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Commercial Metals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Commercial Metals

In other news, Director John R. Mcpherson bought 1,390 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $71.92 per share, for a total transaction of $99,968.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 21,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,576,989.84. This trade represents a 6.77% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Peter R. Matt bought 8,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 10th. The stock was purchased 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. The trade was a 4.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Commercial Metals Stock Performance

Shares of CMC opened at $65.36 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.23 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.33. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $68.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.93. Commercial Metals Company has a 52 week low of $53.08 and a 52 week high of $84.87.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 6.72% and a return on equity of 15.69%. The company’s revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. Research analysts expect that Commercial Metals Company will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 6th. Commercial Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.07%.

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

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.