Optas LLC Purchases Shares of 2,354 CRH plc (NYSE:CRH)

Optas LLC acquired a new position in CRH plc (NYSE:CRH) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,354 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of CRH by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 755 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of CRH by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 6,810 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $630,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of CRH by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,367 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of CRH by 1.7% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 8,196 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $721,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of CRH by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 15,257 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,342,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. 62.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on CRH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on CRH from $118.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on CRH in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of CRH in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Berenberg Bank set a $120.00 target price on shares of CRH in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Loop Capital started coverage on shares of CRH in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $114.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $112.58.

CRH Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE:CRH opened at $90.51 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $92.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.28. The stock has a market cap of $61.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.28. CRH plc has a twelve month low of $71.18 and a twelve month high of $110.97.

CRH (NYSE:CRH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The construction company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by ($0.06). CRH had a return on equity of 16.35% and a net margin of 9.86%. The company had revenue of $6.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. On average, analysts expect that CRH plc will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CRH Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. CRH’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.52%.

CRH Profile

CRH plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides building materials solutions in Ireland and internationally. It operates through four segments: Americas Materials Solutions, Americas Building Solutions, Europe Materials Solutions, and Europe Building Solutions. The company provides solutions for the construction and maintenance of public infrastructure and commercial and residential buildings; and produces and sells aggregates, cement, readymixed concrete, and asphalt, as well as provides paving and construction services.