Short Interest in Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) Expands By 23.5%

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,210,000 shares, an increase of 23.5% from the May 31st total of 2,600,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 789,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days. Approximately 2.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Commercial Metals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Commercial Metals by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,641,427 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $632,577,000 after acquiring an additional 191,345 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Commercial Metals by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,611,020 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $380,859,000 after purchasing an additional 160,228 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Commercial Metals by 23,390.7% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,076,337 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $180,752,000 after purchasing an additional 3,063,241 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Commercial Metals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $94,722,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Commercial Metals by 241.3% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,809,841 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $90,564,000 after buying an additional 1,279,617 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Commercial Metals from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Commercial Metals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Commercial Metals from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.50.

Commercial Metals Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CMC traded down $0.56 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $52.96. 726,426 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 916,955. Commercial Metals has a twelve month low of $39.85 and a twelve month high of $59.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.96 and a beta of 1.17. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.71. The company has a quick ratio of 2.83, a current ratio of 4.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The basic materials company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. Commercial Metals had a return on equity of 14.62% and a net margin of 6.95%. The business’s revenue was down 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Commercial Metals will post 4.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Commercial Metals Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 1st. Commercial Metals’s payout ratio is 15.00%.

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.