Victory Capital Management Inc. Raises Stake in Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,422,427 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 245,468 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Commercial Metals were worth $120,152,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CMC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Commercial Metals by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,081,153 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $59,420,000 after acquiring an additional 66,092 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Commercial Metals by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,714,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $94,208,000 after acquiring an additional 17,931 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Commercial Metals by 66.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 71,151 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,529,000 after acquiring an additional 28,297 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc boosted its holdings in Commercial Metals by 108.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 18,103 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $995,000 after acquiring an additional 9,400 shares during the period. Finally, Covea Finance boosted its holdings in Commercial Metals by 44.2% in the 4th quarter. Covea Finance now owns 62,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,075,000 after acquiring an additional 19,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on CMC. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Commercial Metals in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $75.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Commercial Metals from $65.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Commercial Metals from $62.00 to $58.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. UBS Group raised Commercial Metals from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $56.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Commercial Metals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Commercial Metals currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.33.

Commercial Metals Stock Performance

CMC stock opened at $47.21 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $5.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.18. Commercial Metals has a 12-month low of $43.81 and a 12-month high of $64.53. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.42.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. Commercial Metals had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 1.70%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.49 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Commercial Metals will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Commercial Metals Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Commercial Metals’s payout ratio is currently 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.