Franklin Resources Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Commercial Metals Company $CMC

Key Points

• Franklin Resources cut its stake in Commercial Metals by 39.4% in the fourth quarter, selling about 1.22 million shares and leaving it with 1.88 million shares worth roughly $129.9 million.
• Analysts remain cautiously positive on CMC, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $77.10. UBS recently upgraded the stock to buy and raised its target to $89.
• Commercial Metals reported quarterly EPS of $1.16, below estimates, but revenue of $2.13 billion topped expectations and rose 21.5% year over year. The company also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.20 per share.

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC - Free Report) by 39.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,876,718 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,219,027 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 1.69% of Commercial Metals worth $129,906,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CMC. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 1.4% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 90,989 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,186,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 13.3% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,480 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 614.9% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 5.8% during the first 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 last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 1.8% during the first 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 last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CMC. Barclays began coverage on shares of Commercial Metals in a report on Thursday, May 21st. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Commercial Metals in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. They set a "sector weight" rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Commercial Metals from a "buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Commercial Metals from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $79.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Commercial Metals in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. They set a "neutral" rating and a $74.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Commercial Metals has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.10.

Commercial Metals Stock Performance

CMC opened at $73.82 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $8.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.44, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.50. Commercial Metals Company has a 1-year low of $47.06 and a 1-year high of $84.87. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 2.38 and a quick ratio of 1.55.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The basic materials company reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.28 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $2.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. Commercial Metals had a return on equity of 13.54% and a net margin of 6.02%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Commercial Metals Company will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commercial Metals Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 6th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 6th. This is an increase from Commercial Metals's previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Commercial Metals's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.04%.

Commercial Metals Company Profile

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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