Wall Street Zen Upgrades Cemex (NYSE:CX) to Buy

Key Points

• Cemex was upgraded from a "hold" to a "buy" rating by Wall Street Zen, reflecting a positive outlook on the company's stock.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on Cemex's performance, with four rating it a "buy," three a "hold," and one a "sell," while the consensus target price is set at $8.53.
• In its latest earnings report, Cemex surpassed expectations with an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.23, exceeding analyst estimates of $0.18.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cemex (NYSE:CX - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on CX. Barclays boosted their target price on Cemex from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Itau BBA Securities lowered shares of Cemex from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cemex from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $8.10 to $10.50 in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $9.02.

Cemex Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Cemex stock traded up $0.09 on Friday, hitting $9.25. 10,293,546 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,088,914. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $8.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $6.92. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $13.40 billion, a PE ratio of 9.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.43. Cemex has a one year low of $4.89 and a one year high of $9.27.

Cemex (NYSE:CX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The construction company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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. On average, research analysts expect that Cemex will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cemex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th were paid a dividend of $0.0224 per share. This represents a $0.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 17th. Cemex's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.84%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CX. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Cemex by 137.9% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 31,252 shares of the construction company's stock worth $175,000 after acquiring an additional 18,114 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Cemex by 21.0% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 14,431 shares of the construction company's stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 2,505 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Cemex by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,645,959 shares of the construction company's stock worth $20,454,000 after purchasing an additional 104,172 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cemex by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 71,452 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 7,119 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Cemex by 1,188.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,155 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 19,513 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.97% of the company's stock.

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.