48,249 Shares in Commercial Metals Company $CMC Acquired by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Key Points

• Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired 48,249 shares of Commercial Metals, valued at approximately $3.03 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 86.9% of CMC’s outstanding shares.
• Commercial Metals exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $1.73 in EPS versus the $1.70 consensus and $2.48 billion in revenue, up 22.9% year over year.
• The company authorized a $600 million share-repurchase program, allowing buybacks of up to 7.5% of outstanding shares. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $81.18.

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 48,249 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $3,028,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CMC. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Commercial Metals in the 2nd quarter valued at $954,989,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in Commercial Metals by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,361,477 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $440,341,000 after buying an additional 91,104 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Commercial Metals by 1.9% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,641,930 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $208,629,000 after acquiring an additional 67,139 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Commercial Metals by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,926,864 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $202,626,000 after acquiring an additional 86,749 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Commercial Metals by 4.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,661,027 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $95,144,000 after acquiring an additional 76,365 shares during the period. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Commercial Metals Price Performance

NYSE:CMC opened at $70.22 on Friday. Commercial Metals Company has a 52-week low of $53.08 and a 52-week high of $84.87. The company has a market cap of $7.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.33. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $67.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.94.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. Commercial Metals had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 6.72%.The business's revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Commercial Metals Company will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Commercial Metals announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 5th that allows the company to buyback $600.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the basic materials company to buy up to 7.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Commercial Metals Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 6th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 6th. Commercial Metals's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.07%.

Insider Activity

In other Commercial Metals news, Director John R. Mcpherson purchased 1,390 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $71.92 per share, with a total value of $99,968.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 21,927 shares in the company, valued at $1,576,989.84. This represents a 6.77% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter R. Matt acquired 8,230 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $61.30 per share, for a total transaction of $504,499.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 181,522 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,127,298.60. This trade represents a 4.75% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CMC. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Commercial Metals from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Commercial Metals from a "buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Commercial Metals from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Commercial Metals from $84.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Commercial Metals from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Commercial Metals currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $81.18.

About Commercial Metals

Commercial Metals Company NYSE: CMC is a leading global steel and metal recycler, manufacturer and fabricator based in Irving, Texas. The company operates an integrated network of scrap recycling facilities, electric arc furnace steel mills, metal fabrication plants and distribution centers. Through these operations, Commercial Metals collects and processes ferrous scrap to produce finished steel products and provides recycled metal to a variety of end markets.

In its steelmaking segment, CMC uses electric arc furnace technology to transform recycled scrap into reinforcing bar (rebar), merchant bar, coil and structural products.

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