CEMEX (NYSE:CX) Rating Lowered to "Underperform" at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of CEMEX (NYSE:CX - Free Report) from a sector perform rating to an underperform rating in a research note released on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $5.00 price target on the construction company's stock, down from their prior price target of $6.00.

CX has been the topic of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of CEMEX from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $7.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. StockNews.com downgraded CEMEX from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on CEMEX from $10.00 to $8.90 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on CEMEX from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $7.65.

CEMEX Price Performance

NYSE CX traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $5.55. The company had a trading volume of 12,908,460 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,762,493. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $6.15. CEMEX has a 52 week low of $5.00 and a 52 week high of $9.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.13 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.98.

CEMEX Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th will be issued a $0.0207 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 10th. CEMEX's payout ratio is currently 13.33%.

Institutional Trading of CEMEX

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new stake in shares of CEMEX in the 3rd quarter valued at about $190,346,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in CEMEX by 28.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 19,057,965 shares of the construction company's stock worth $121,113,000 after purchasing an additional 4,217,562 shares during the period. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC lifted its position in CEMEX by 32.3% in the second quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 15,555,171 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $99,398,000 after purchasing an additional 3,796,262 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in CEMEX by 166.9% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 4,077,576 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $24,873,000 after purchasing an additional 2,549,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its stake in shares of CEMEX by 63.2% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 5,397,977 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $32,927,000 after purchasing an additional 2,090,688 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.97% of the company's stock.

About CEMEX

CEMEX, SAB. de C.V., together with its subsidiaries, produces, markets, distributes, and sells cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, urbanization solutions, and other construction materials and services worldwide. The company offers gray ordinary portland, white portland, oil-well, and blended cement products; mortar; and standard ready-mix, architectural and decorative, rapid-setting, fiber-reinforced, fluid-fill, roller-compacted, self-consolidating, pervious, and antibacterial, and other concrete products.