Short Interest in Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) Expands By 16.4%

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) saw a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,700,000 shares, a growth of 16.4% from the November 30th total of 3,180,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 903,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days. Currently, 3.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Commercial Metals

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CMC. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Commercial Metals in the 3rd quarter worth $66,000. Archer Investment Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Commercial Metals in the 2nd quarter valued at $77,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 15.9% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,099 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $170,000 after acquiring an additional 425 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Commercial Metals in the third quarter valued at $206,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Commercial Metals by 29.7% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 3,798 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 870 shares during the period. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CMC shares. Wolfe Research cut shares of Commercial Metals from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Commercial Metals in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. UBS Group restated a “sell” rating and issued a $56.00 price objective (down from $62.00) on shares of Commercial Metals in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Commercial Metals in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Commercial Metals in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.33.

Commercial Metals Price Performance

Commercial Metals stock opened at $50.11 on Monday. Commercial Metals has a 1 year low of $47.42 and a 1 year high of $64.53. The stock has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.15. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $57.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.78.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The basic materials company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.01). Commercial Metals had a net margin of 6.13% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Commercial Metals will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Commercial Metals Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Commercial Metals’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.39%.

About Commercial Metals

Commercial Metals Company manufactures, recycles, and fabricates steel and metal products, and related materials and services in the United States, Poland, China, and internationally. It operates through two segments, North America and Europe. The company processes and sells ferrous and nonferrous scrap metals to steel mills and foundries, aluminum sheet and ingot manufacturers, brass and bronze ingot makers, copper refineries and mills, secondary lead smelters, specialty steel mills, high temperature alloy manufacturers, and other consumers.