CEMEX (NYSE:CX) Stock Rating Lowered by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley lowered shares of CEMEX (NYSE:CX) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report published on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of CEMEX from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of CEMEX from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $7.82.

CEMEX Stock Down 4.4 %

Shares of CX opened at $6.01 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $6.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.53 and a beta of 1.45. CEMEX has a 52 week low of $5.00 and a 52 week high of $9.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.82.

CEMEX (NYSE:CX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The construction company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.06. CEMEX had a return on equity of 7.78% and a net margin of 5.70%. On average, analysts predict that CEMEX will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

CEMEX Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.0207 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. CEMEX’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.70%.

Institutional Trading of CEMEX

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CX. Barclays PLC increased its stake in CEMEX by 41.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,249 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of CEMEX by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,652 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $179,000 after buying an additional 2,452 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of CEMEX by 26.4% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 13,011 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 2,720 shares in the last quarter. Holistic Financial Partners raised its holdings in shares of CEMEX by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Holistic Financial Partners now owns 13,933 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 2,787 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in CEMEX by 159.1% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 4,986 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 3,062 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

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.