Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Purchases Shares of 48,249 Commercial Metals Company $CMC

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 48,249 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,028,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CMC. Qsemble Capital Management LP grew 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 valued at $3,453,000 after acquiring an additional 27,062 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in Commercial Metals by 11.5% in 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. NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Commercial Metals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,600,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 87.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,631,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $100,205,000 after purchasing an additional 760,985 shares during the period. Finally, Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Commercial Metals during the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,457,000. 86.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John R. Mcpherson bought 1,390 shares of Commercial Metals stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $71.92 per share, for a total transaction of $99,968.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 21,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,576,989.84. The trade was a 6.77% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter R. Matt bought 8,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 10th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $61.30 per share, with a total value of $504,499.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 181,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,127,298.60. This trade represents a 4.75% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CMC shares. Citigroup reduced their price target on Commercial Metals from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered Commercial Metals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Commercial Metals from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Commercial Metals to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Commercial Metals from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.18.

Commercial Metals Stock Performance

NYSE:CMC opened at $70.22 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $67.69 and its 200-day moving average is $68.94. Commercial Metals Company has a 1-year low of $53.08 and a 1-year high of $84.87.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.40 billion. Commercial Metals had a net margin of 6.72% and a return on equity of 15.69%. The company’s revenue was up 22.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Commercial Metals Company will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Commercial Metals announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, August 5th that permits the company to buyback $600.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the basic materials company to repurchase up to 7.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Commercial Metals Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 6th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Commercial Metals’s payout ratio is presently 15.07%.

Commercial Metals Profile

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.