Cemex (NYSE:CX) Reaches New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Cemex's stock reached a new 52-week high after Barclays raised its price target from $9.00 to $10.00, currently rating it as overweight.
• Institutional investors have significantly increased their stakes in Cemex, with Dodge & Cox boosting its holdings by 41.7% in Q1.
• Cemex reported earnings of $0.23 per share for the latest quarter, exceeding expectations, but its revenue of $4.13 billion fell short of analysts' forecasts of $4.20 billion.

Cemex S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:CX - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $9.00 to $10.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Cemex traded as high as $8.52 and last traded at $8.57, with a volume of 1335527 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $8.41.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on CX. Itau BBA Securities downgraded shares of Cemex from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Bradesco Corretora set a $7.50 price target on shares of Cemex and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Cemex from $5.00 to $5.25 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered Cemex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, July 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Cemex from $6.00 to $6.80 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $7.91.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cemex

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in Cemex by 41.7% during the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 70,320,800 shares of the construction company's stock worth $394,500,000 after purchasing an additional 20,698,791 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cemex by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 40,745,819 shares of the construction company's stock worth $229,806,000 after acquiring an additional 9,541,622 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cemex by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 36,836,513 shares of the construction company's stock worth $207,757,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127,293 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in shares of Cemex by 745.6% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 26,739,107 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $150,809,000 after purchasing an additional 23,576,914 shares during the period. Finally, Orbis Allan Gray Ltd raised its holdings in Cemex by 115.6% in the 1st quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 13,831,102 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $77,592,000 after acquiring an additional 7,416,743 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.97% of the company's stock.

Cemex Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $12.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.38. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $7.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $6.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

Cemex (NYSE:CX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The construction company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $4.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.20 billion. Cemex had a return on equity of 6.89% and a net margin of 9.61%. Research analysts forecast that Cemex S.A.B. de C.V. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cemex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were given a $0.0224 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $0.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Cemex's payout ratio is presently 7.84%.

About Cemex

CEMEX, SAB. de C.V., together with its subsidiaries, produces, markets, distributes, and sells cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, urbanization solutions, and other construction materials and services worldwide. The company offers gray ordinary portland, white portland, oil-well, and blended cement products; mortar; and standard ready-mix, architectural and decorative, rapid-setting, fiber-reinforced, fluid-fill, roller-compacted, self-consolidating, pervious, and antibacterial, and other concrete products.

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