Short Interest in CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:CX) Rises By 27.4%

CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:CX) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 13,410,000 shares, an increase of 27.4% from the December 15th total of 10,530,000 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 10,590,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.3 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded CEMEX from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $7.00 to $6.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of CEMEX from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of CEMEX from a “sector perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $6.00 to $5.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of CEMEX from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of CEMEX from $10.00 to $8.90 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CEMEX presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $7.65.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CEMEX

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in CEMEX by 123.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,441,466 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $88,093,000 after purchasing an additional 7,986,204 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CEMEX during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $776,000. GFS Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CEMEX by 1,505.0% in the 3rd quarter. GFS Advisors LLC now owns 166,427 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after buying an additional 156,058 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in shares of CEMEX by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 9,889,608 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $60,327,000 after buying an additional 807,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its stake in CEMEX by 63.2% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 5,397,977 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $32,927,000 after acquiring an additional 2,090,688 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.97% of the company’s stock.

CEMEX Stock Down 1.7 %

NYSE:CX traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $5.36. The stock had a trading volume of 8,216,175 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,205,883. CEMEX has a twelve month low of $5.00 and a twelve month high of $9.27. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $7.76 billion, a PE ratio of 17.85 and a beta of 1.49.

CEMEX Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 10th were issued a $0.0207 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 10th. CEMEX’s payout ratio is 20.00%.

About CEMEX

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.