Cannell & Spears LLC Takes Position in Commercial Metals Company $CMC

Cannell & Spears LLC bought a new stake in shares of Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 61,344 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,768,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CMC. Qsemble Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 118.6% in the fourth quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP now owns 49,885 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,453,000 after acquiring an additional 27,062 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Commercial Metals by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 277,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,070,000 after purchasing an additional 28,693 shares during the period. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL raised its stake in Commercial Metals by 45.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 217,082 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,434,000 after purchasing an additional 67,864 shares during the period. NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in Commercial Metals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,600,000. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in Commercial Metals by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 977,385 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $67,655,000 after purchasing an additional 27,775 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Commercial Metals Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of CMC opened at $68.91 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $70.14 and its 200 day moving average is $70.49. Commercial Metals Company has a fifty-two week low of $49.66 and a fifty-two week high of $84.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.62 billion, a PE ratio of 12.98, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.33.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last released 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. Commercial Metals had a net margin of 6.72% and a return on equity of 15.69%. The company had revenue of $2.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. Commercial Metals’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Commercial Metals Company will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commercial Metals Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 6th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 6th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Commercial Metals’s payout ratio is 15.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Commercial Metals

In other Commercial Metals news, CEO Peter R. Matt bought 8,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 10th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $61.30 per share, for a total transaction of $504,499.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 181,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,127,298.60. This represents a 4.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CMC shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Commercial Metals to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Commercial Metals from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Commercial Metals from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Commercial Metals from $83.00 to $78.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of Commercial Metals in a report on Thursday, May 21st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.45.

About Commercial Metals

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.