Ternium S.A. (NYSE:TX) Shares Sold by Lazard Asset Management LLC

Lazard Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Ternium S.A. (NYSE:TX - Free Report) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,335,531 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 12,036 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned approximately 2.21% of Ternium worth $126,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of TX. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ternium by 500.0% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,200 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Ternium by 249.5% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,681 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new position in Ternium during the 4th quarter worth $54,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ternium by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 2,182 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Ternium in the 4th quarter valued at about $88,000. 11.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on TX. Bank of America reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of Ternium in a research note on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Ternium in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Ternium from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.00.

Ternium Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TX traded down $0.42 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $28.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 102,920 shares, compared to its average volume of 221,579. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 2.88. Ternium S.A. has a 1-year low of $24.00 and a 1-year high of $43.93. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $29.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.44. The firm has a market cap of $5.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -101.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.53.

Ternium (NYSE:TX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $3.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4 billion. Ternium had a positive return on equity of 1.82% and a negative net margin of 0.31%. Ternium's quarterly revenue was down 17.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ternium S.A. will post 4.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ternium Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is an increase from Ternium's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.09. This represents a yield of 10.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. Ternium's dividend payout ratio is presently -202.25%.

About Ternium

Ternium SA, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes steel products in Mexico, Southern Region, Brazil, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Steel, Mining, and Usiminas. The Steel segment offers slabs, hot and cold rolled products, coated products, roll formed and tubular products, bars, billets, and other products.