Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE:EXP) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE:EXP) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $223.30.

EXP has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Eagle Materials from $240.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $215.00 price target (down from $230.00) on shares of Eagle Materials in a report on Monday, February 16th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Eagle Materials from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Eagle Materials from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Eagle Materials from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Eagle Materials by 14.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 511,372 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $119,179,000 after buying an additional 65,072 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 61.1% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 500,474 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $116,630,000 after buying an additional 189,725 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Eagle Materials by 743.8% during the third quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 34,317 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $7,997,000 after purchasing an additional 30,250 shares during the last quarter. Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 1,671.4% during the fourth quarter. Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. now owns 12,400 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,563,000 after acquiring an additional 11,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cambiar Investors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Eagle Materials during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,321,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Eagle Materials Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of EXP stock opened at $221.26 on Tuesday. Eagle Materials has a 12-month low of $171.99 and a 12-month high of $243.64. The company has a current ratio of 3.66, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $199.75 and its 200 day moving average is $210.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.86 and a beta of 1.37.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 19th. The construction company reported $1.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.32. Eagle Materials had a net margin of 18.36% and a return on equity of 28.27%. The company had revenue of $479.11 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $451.99 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.00 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Eagle Materials will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Eagle Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. Eagle Materials’s payout ratio is 7.62%.

About Eagle Materials

Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE:EXP) is a Dallas, Texas–based manufacturer of building materials serving construction and heavy industry markets across the United States. The company’s primary products include portland and masonry cements, gypsum wallboard, lightweight aggregate, paperboard packaging, and roofing granules. These product lines support a wide range of end uses—from residential and commercial buildings to infrastructure projects and industrial applications.

Since its spin-off from a major homebuilding company in 2004, Eagle Materials has grown through targeted facility expansions and strategic acquisitions.