Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) Now Covered by Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC - Free Report) in a report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $65.00 price objective on the basic materials company's stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America cut their price objective on Commercial Metals from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Commercial Metals from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $61.40.

Commercial Metals Stock Down 5.0 %

CMC stock traded down $2.66 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $50.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,024,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 863,936. The company's fifty day moving average price is $54.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 4.24 and a quick ratio of 2.83. Commercial Metals has a twelve month low of $39.85 and a twelve month high of $61.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.61 and a beta of 1.17.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The basic materials company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. Commercial Metals had a return on equity of 14.62% and a net margin of 6.95%. Commercial Metals's revenue was down 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Commercial Metals will post 4.53 EPS for the current year.

Commercial Metals Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 1st were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. Commercial Metals's payout ratio is 15.00%.

Institutional Trading of Commercial Metals

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CMC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Commercial Metals by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,641,427 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $632,577,000 after acquiring an additional 191,345 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Commercial Metals by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,611,020 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $380,859,000 after purchasing an additional 160,228 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Commercial Metals by 23,390.7% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,076,337 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $180,752,000 after buying an additional 3,063,241 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Commercial Metals in the 4th quarter valued at about $94,722,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 4.5% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,774,666 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $104,297,000 after buying an additional 76,742 shares during the period. 86.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.