Crh Plc (NYSE:CRH) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Crh Plc (NYSE:CRH) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $139.5385.

CRH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $139.00 target price on shares of CRH in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on CRH from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. DA Davidson set a $120.00 target price on CRH in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings lowered CRH from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on CRH from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd.

Institutional Trading of CRH

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CRH by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,117,664 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $9,873,884,000 after buying an additional 14,623,673 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of CRH by 81.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,895,205 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,106,927,000 after buying an additional 11,167,189 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of CRH by 67.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,709,575 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,827,252,000 after buying an additional 5,916,930 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of CRH by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 12,439,954 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,552,506,000 after buying an additional 78,769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in CRH in the 4th quarter valued at $1,476,939,000. 62.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CRH Stock Up 5.0%

Shares of CRH stock opened at $104.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.12 billion, a PE ratio of 19.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.31. CRH has a 52-week low of $86.82 and a 52-week high of $131.55. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $109.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $116.05.

CRH (NYSE:CRH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $7.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.07 billion. CRH had a return on equity of 15.37% and a net margin of 9.65%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. CRH has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.600-6.050 EPS. Analysts expect that CRH will post 5.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CRH Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. CRH’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.89%.

CRH Company Profile

CRH plc, originally formed as Cement Roadstone Holdings in 1970 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is a global building materials group. The company has grown from its Irish roots into one of the largest international suppliers of construction materials, expanding primarily through acquisitions and regional business development. CRH operates an integrated network of manufacturing and distribution businesses that serve both public and private construction markets.

CRH’s core activities include the production and distribution of aggregates, cement, asphalt, ready-mixed concrete and other bulk materials, together with a broad range of value-added building products such as precast concrete, masonry, bricks, roofing products, pipe and drainage systems, and construction accessories.