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 report issued on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on CX. Barclays lifted their target price on Cemex from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Itau BBA Securities downgraded Cemex from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Cemex from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $8.10 to $10.50 in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $9.02.

Cemex Stock Performance

CX stock traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $9.15. The company had a trading volume of 4,603,299 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,881,787. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $8.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.89. Cemex has a fifty-two week low of $4.89 and a fifty-two week high of $9.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.26 billion, a PE ratio of 8.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.43.

Cemex (NYSE:CX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The construction company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.05. Cemex had a return on equity of 6.89% and a net margin of 9.61%.The company had revenue of $4.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.20 billion. Analysts anticipate that Cemex will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Cemex Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cemex

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 18,114 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Cemex by 21.0% during the first 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 in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Cemex by 2.9% during the first 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 holdings in Cemex by 11.1% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 71,452 shares of the construction company's stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 7,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Cemex by 1,188.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,155 shares of the construction company's stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 19,513 shares in the last quarter. 82.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.