Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 98,185 Shares of Commercial Metals Company $CMC

Franklin Resources Inc. lessened its holdings in Commercial Metals Company (NYSE:CMC) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,095,745 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 98,185 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Commercial Metals were worth $177,324,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Commercial Metals during the second quarter valued at approximately $70,402,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Commercial Metals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $54,394,000. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Commercial Metals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,225,000. Thomist Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Commercial Metals in the 2nd quarter valued at $14,950,000. Finally, Drummond Knight Asset Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in Commercial Metals in the third quarter valued at $15,579,000. 86.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on CMC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Commercial Metals from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $64.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Commercial Metals from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $85.00 price target on shares of Commercial Metals and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Commercial Metals from $68.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Commercial Metals from $65.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Commercial Metals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jennifer J. Durbin sold 25,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.97, for a total transaction of $2,003,248.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 52,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,228,813.60. This represents a 32.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Dennis V. Arriola purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $74.69 per share, with a total value of $149,380.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,238 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $689,986.22. This represents a 27.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Commercial Metals Price Performance

Shares of CMC stock opened at $61.78 on Friday. Commercial Metals Company has a 52 week low of $37.92 and a 52 week high of $84.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.85 billion, a PE ratio of 15.92, a PEG ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 3.70 and a current ratio of 4.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $75.28 and its 200-day moving average is $66.25.

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 8th. The basic materials company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.06 billion. Commercial Metals had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 5.46%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Commercial Metals Company will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Commercial Metals Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 19th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 16th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Commercial Metals’s payout ratio is currently 18.56%.

Commercial Metals Company Profile

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.