Morgan Stanley Downgrades CEMEX (NYSE:CX) to Equal Weight

CEMEX (NYSE:CX) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports.

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

CEMEX Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CX opened at $6.04 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $6.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. CEMEX has a 52 week low of $5.00 and a 52 week high of $9.27.

CEMEX (NYSE:CX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The construction company reported $0.16 earnings per share 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%. Analysts anticipate that CEMEX will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CEMEX

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of CEMEX by 5.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 176,539 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after acquiring an additional 9,419 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in CEMEX during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $306,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in CEMEX by 166.9% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 4,077,576 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $24,873,000 after purchasing an additional 2,549,852 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CEMEX in the third quarter valued at $190,346,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of CEMEX by 12.6% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 192,392 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,174,000 after buying an additional 21,503 shares during the period. 82.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CEMEX Company Profile

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.