Cemex (NYSE:CX) Hits New 1-Year High - Time to Buy?

Cemex S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:CX - Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $7.56 and last traded at $7.56, with a volume of 1680545 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $7.37.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CX has been the subject of several research reports. Bradesco Corretora set a $7.50 price objective on shares of Cemex and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $9.00 price objective (up from $8.00) on shares of Cemex in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Cemex from $6.00 to $6.80 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Cemex from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Cemex from $5.00 to $5.25 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. One 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $7.74.

Cemex Stock Down 1.4%

The firm has a market cap of $11.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.38. The business's fifty day moving average price is $7.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $6.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Cemex (NYSE:CX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The construction company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $186.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $214.59 million. Cemex had a net margin of 8.84% and a return on equity of 6.47%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cemex S.A.B. de C.V. will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

Cemex Dividend Announcement

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. This represents a $0.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 17th. Cemex's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cemex

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CX. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in Cemex by 137.9% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 31,252 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 18,114 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cemex by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 358,776 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $2,023,000 after acquiring an additional 43,089 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in Cemex by 21.0% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 14,431 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 2,505 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Cemex by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,863,502 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $21,790,000 after acquiring an additional 53,269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in Cemex in the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. 82.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.