First Eagle Investment Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Commercial Metals Company $CMC

First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 272,349 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 8,100 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Commercial Metals were worth $18,852,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 430.9% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 29,247 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,675,000 after buying an additional 23,738 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Commercial Metals in the third quarter worth $821,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 6.6% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,823,923 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $104,474,000 after buying an additional 112,267 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Commercial Metals in the third quarter worth $910,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 7.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 884,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $50,670,000 after buying an additional 64,491 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CMC. Zacks Research downgraded Commercial Metals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Citigroup increased their price objective on Commercial Metals from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Commercial Metals in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $74.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Commercial Metals from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Commercial Metals in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.50.

Commercial Metals Stock Up 0.3%

CMC opened at $71.17 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $7.89 billion, a PE ratio of 15.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Commercial Metals Company has a 52 week low of $45.50 and a 52 week high of $84.87. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.24.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The basic materials company reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $2.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.10 billion. Commercial Metals had a return on equity of 13.54% and a net margin of 6.02%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Commercial Metals Company will post 6.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commercial Metals Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 6th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This is an increase from Commercial Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 6th. Commercial Metals’s payout ratio is currently 16.04%.

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.