Commercial Metals to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.18 (NYSE:CMC)

Commercial Metals (NYSE:CMC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 2nd,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share by the basic materials company on Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%.

Commercial Metals has increased its dividend by an average of 10.1% annually over the last three years. Commercial Metals has a dividend payout ratio of 19.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Commercial Metals to earn $5.37 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.4%.

Commercial Metals Price Performance

CMC opened at $49.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 3.94 and a quick ratio of 2.78. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.98. The firm has a market cap of $5.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.87, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.15. Commercial Metals has a 1 year low of $47.42 and a 1 year high of $64.53.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on CMC. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Commercial Metals from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets set a $62.00 price target on Commercial Metals and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group reiterated 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. BNP Paribas downgraded Commercial Metals from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Commercial Metals in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Commercial Metals has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.33.

Commercial Metals Company Profile

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.