Wall Street Zen Upgrades Cemex (NYSE:CX) to Buy

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cemex (NYSE:CX - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on CX. Morgan Stanley lowered Cemex from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Bradesco Corretora set a $7.50 target price on Cemex and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Itau BBA Securities cut Cemex from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Cemex from $5.00 to $5.25 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Cemex from $6.00 to $6.80 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $7.74.

Cemex Stock Performance

Shares of Cemex stock traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $7.28. 4,533,313 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,005,315. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.58, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.24. Cemex has a 12-month low of $4.89 and a 12-month high of $7.50.

Cemex (NYSE:CX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The construction company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $186.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $214.59 million. Cemex had a return on equity of 6.47% and a net margin of 8.84%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cemex will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cemex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th were given a dividend of $0.0224 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $0.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. Cemex's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cemex

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in Cemex by 13.7% during the second quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 33,213 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,002 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cemex by 63.7% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,210 shares of the construction company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 2,027 shares during the period. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Cemex during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,123,000. Everstar Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Cemex by 189.4% during the 1st quarter. Everstar Asset Management LLC now owns 42,783 shares of the construction company's stock worth $240,000 after acquiring an additional 28,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Cemex by 58.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,187,143 shares of the construction company's stock worth $40,320,000 after buying an additional 2,661,030 shares during the period. 82.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.