Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) Sets New 52-Week Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week low on Monday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $56.00 to $53.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Commercial Metals traded as low as $43.37 and last traded at $43.47, with a volume of 277378 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $45.86.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on CMC. UBS Group raised Commercial Metals from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the company from $56.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Commercial Metals from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Commercial Metals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. BNP Paribas downgraded Commercial Metals from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Commercial Metals in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $75.00 price target for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.83.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in Commercial Metals by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,830,412 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $320,439,000 after purchasing an additional 24,665 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in Commercial Metals by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,055,150 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $201,178,000 after acquiring an additional 243,921 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Commercial Metals by 1.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,839,601 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $156,093,000 after acquiring an additional 28,019 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Commercial Metals by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,422,427 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $120,152,000 after acquiring an additional 245,468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Commercial Metals by 87.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,919,445 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $95,204,000 after acquiring an additional 893,094 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.90% of the company's stock.

Commercial Metals Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.76 and a quick ratio of 1.94. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.96. The stock has a market cap of $5.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.73, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.17.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78. Commercial Metals had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 1.70%. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.49 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Commercial Metals will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Commercial Metals Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 16th. Commercial Metals's dividend payout ratio is presently 64.86%.

About Commercial Metals

Commercial Metals Company manufactures, recycles, and fabricates steel and metal products, and related materials and services in the United States, Poland, China, and internationally. It operates through two segments, North America and Europe. The company processes and sells ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals to steel mills and foundries, aluminum sheet and ingot manufacturers, brass and bronze ingot makers, copper refineries and mills, secondary lead smelters, specialty steel mills, high temperature alloy manufacturers, and other consumers.