Merit Financial Group LLC Takes $821,000 Position in Commercial Metals Company $CMC

Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 14,333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $821,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,867 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 4.4% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 4,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Commercial Metals by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,674 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Private Wealth Advisors raised its position in Commercial Metals by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Atlas Private Wealth Advisors now owns 16,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $797,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its stake in Commercial Metals by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 8,309 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $406,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the period. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CMC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Commercial Metals from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $78.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th. Zacks Research raised Commercial Metals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Commercial Metals in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup raised shares of Commercial Metals from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Commercial Metals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Commercial Metals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.30.

Insider Activity

In other Commercial Metals news, Director John R. Mcpherson bought 1,722 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 20th. The shares were bought at an average price of $58.09 per share, with a total value of $100,030.98. Following the purchase, the director owned 6,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $390,480.98. This trade represents a 34.44% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Commercial Metals Stock Performance

CMC opened at $73.31 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.78 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The firm has a market cap of $8.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.46, a PEG ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.49. Commercial Metals Company has a 1-year low of $37.92 and a 1-year high of $75.03.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 16th. The basic materials company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.10 billion. Commercial Metals had a net margin of 1.09% and a return on equity of 8.76%. Commercial Metals’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Commercial Metals Company will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Commercial Metals Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 19th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 16th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Commercial Metals’s dividend payout ratio is 94.74%.

About Commercial Metals

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.