First Eagle Investment Management LLC Grows Position in Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 244,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,450 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Commercial Metals were worth $12,136,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hilton Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Commercial Metals by 58.6% during the fourth quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC now owns 34,203 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 12,640 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in Commercial Metals by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 17,933 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $889,000 after purchasing an additional 856 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its holdings in Commercial Metals by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 1,449,314 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $71,886,000 after purchasing an additional 8,783 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Commercial Metals by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 226,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,220,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Commercial Metals by 269.0% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 58,768 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,915,000 after purchasing an additional 42,840 shares during the last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Commercial Metals Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of CMC opened at $46.33 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.96. The company has a market capitalization of $5.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.76 and a quick ratio of 1.94. Commercial Metals has a 1-year low of $42.62 and a 1-year high of $64.53.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. Commercial Metals had a net margin of 1.70% and a return on equity of 9.88%. Commercial Metals’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.49 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Commercial Metals will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commercial Metals Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. 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 payout ratio is currently 64.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Commercial Metals from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group raised shares of Commercial Metals from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $56.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Commercial Metals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Commercial Metals from $56.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Commercial Metals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.83.

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.