Cemex (NYSE:CX) Reaches New 12-Month High Following 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) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading 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 trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $8.41.

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

Institutional Trading of Cemex

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CX. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cemex during the first quarter valued at $29,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cemex by 63.7% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,210 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 2,027 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of Cemex by 334.7% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 9,189 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 7,075 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Cemex by 56.2% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 9,759 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 3,510 shares during the period. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cemex during the fourth quarter valued at $57,000. Institutional investors own 82.97% of the company's stock.

Cemex Stock Down 3.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $12.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $7.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $6.48.

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

Cemex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were paid a $0.0224 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $0.09 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Cemex's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.84%.

Cemex Company Profile

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.