CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:CX) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:CX) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 13,410,000 shares, a growth of 27.4% from the December 15th total of 10,530,000 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 10,590,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.3 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CEMEX

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CX. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of CEMEX during the second quarter valued at approximately $81,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of CEMEX by 45.1% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 44,305 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $283,000 after buying an additional 13,766 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of CEMEX by 2.2% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 433,336 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,769,000 after buying an additional 9,281 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its position in shares of CEMEX by 53.2% during the second quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 425,657 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,720,000 after buying an additional 147,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of CEMEX during the second quarter valued at approximately $129,000. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CEMEX Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of CEMEX stock traded down $0.10 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $5.36. The company had a trading volume of 8,216,175 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,205,883. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $5.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market cap of $7.76 billion, a PE ratio of 17.85 and a beta of 1.49. CEMEX has a fifty-two week low of $5.00 and a fifty-two week high of $9.27.

CEMEX Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were issued a $0.0207 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 10th. CEMEX’s payout ratio is currently 20.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on CX shares. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on CEMEX from $10.00 to $8.90 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays cut their price target on CEMEX from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. StockNews.com lowered CEMEX from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered CEMEX from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $6.00 to $5.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered CEMEX from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $7.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.65.

CEMEX Company Profile

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.