Freestone Grove Partners LP Takes $1.85 Million Position in Commercial Metals Company $CMC

Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new stake in Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 29,479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,850,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in Commercial Metals by 1.4% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 90,989 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,186,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Commercial Metals by 13.3% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 614.9% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 11,767 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $541,000 after purchasing an additional 10,121 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 5.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,033,514 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,552,000 after purchasing an additional 56,875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 1.8% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 53,305 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 941 shares in the last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CMC has been the subject of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Commercial Metals to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. 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 note on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Commercial Metals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Commercial Metals from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Commercial Metals from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.18.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Peter R. Matt bought 8,230 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $61.30 per share, with a total value of $504,499.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 181,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,127,298.60. The trade was a 4.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John R. Mcpherson purchased 1,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $71.92 per share, for a total transaction of $99,968.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 21,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,576,989.84. This trade represents a 6.77% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Commercial Metals Price Performance

Commercial Metals stock opened at $67.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.40. Commercial Metals Company has a 12 month low of $53.08 and a 12 month high of $84.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.47 billion, a PE ratio of 12.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.52.

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

Commercial Metals Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 6th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 6th. Commercial Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.07%.

Commercial Metals declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, August 5th that allows the company to buyback $600.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to reacquire up to 7.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.