First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Purchases New Position in Commercial Metals Company $CMC

Key Points

• First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. opened a new position in Commercial Metals during the first quarter, buying 20,317 shares valued at about $1.25 million.
• Analyst sentiment on CMC has improved, with UBS upgrading the stock to buy and BNP Paribas Exane moving it to outperform; the overall consensus rating is now Moderate Buy with a $79.45 price target.
• Commercial Metals reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting $1.73 EPS on $2.48 billion in revenue, and its CEO also bought more shares, signaling insider confidence.

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 20,317 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,248,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Commercial Metals by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 90,989 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,186,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,480 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 614.9% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 11,767 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $541,000 after purchasing an additional 10,121 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,033,514 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $47,552,000 after purchasing an additional 56,875 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 53,305 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 941 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Commercial Metals from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $79.00 to $89.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Commercial Metals from a "buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Commercial Metals from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Commercial Metals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 4th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Commercial Metals from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $79.45.

Insider Activity at Commercial Metals

In other news, CEO Peter R. Matt acquired 8,230 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 10th. The shares were bought at an average price of $61.30 per share, for a total transaction of $504,499.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.62% of the company's stock.

Commercial Metals Stock Down 0.2%

CMC opened at $67.96 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.52 billion, a PE ratio of 12.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.54. Commercial Metals Company has a twelve month low of $49.66 and a twelve month high of $84.87. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $70.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.03. Commercial Metals had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 6.72%.The company had revenue of $2.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. Commercial Metals's revenue was up 22.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Commercial Metals Company will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commercial Metals Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 6th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 6th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Commercial Metals's payout ratio is currently 15.07%.

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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