Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) Stock Price Target Raised at Citigroup

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) had its price objective boosted by Citigroup from $190.00 to $214.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the construction company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Eagle Materials from $225.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Eagle Materials from $232.00 to $207.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Stephens upped their target price on Eagle Materials from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Zacks Research downgraded Eagle Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Eagle Materials from $188.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eagle Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $193.33.

Eagle Materials Trading Down 1.6%

EXP stock traded down $2.97 on Friday, hitting $186.27. 379,014 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 431,447. Eagle Materials has a twelve month low of $160.02 and a twelve month high of $245.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 3.23 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The business’s fifty day moving average is $179.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $201.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.46 and a beta of 1.29.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The construction company reported $3.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.82 by ($0.19). Eagle Materials had a net margin of 17.32% and a return on equity of 26.87%. The company had revenue of $652.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $633.08 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Eagle Materials will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Eagle Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 11th. Investors of record on Monday, December 14th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 14th. Eagle Materials’s payout ratio is 8.30%.

Insider Transactions at Eagle Materials

In other Eagle Materials news, SVP Tony Thompson sold 3,074 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $203.96, for a total transaction of $626,973.04. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 10,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,562.32. This represents a 23.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eagle Materials

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 47.6% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 36,476 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,240,000 after acquiring an additional 11,755 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Eagle Materials by 1.9% during the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 30,392 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,198,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Group LLC bought a new position in Eagle Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,403,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Eagle Materials by 103.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 23,600 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,036,000 after buying an additional 12,000 shares during the period. Finally, M&G PLC increased its stake in Eagle Materials by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 50,934 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,710,000 after buying an additional 1,909 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Eagle Materials Company Profile

Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE: EXP) is a U.S.-based manufacturer of building materials used in residential, commercial, infrastructure and industrial construction. The company’s principal products include cement, gypsum wallboard, concrete and aggregates.

Its cement business produces and distributes Portland cement and related cement products, while its gypsum wallboard business supplies panels used in interior construction. Eagle Materials also provides ready-mixed concrete and construction aggregates, including crushed stone, sand and gravel, for building and infrastructure projects.

The company traces its history to Centex Construction Products, which was spun off from Centex Corporation in 1994 and later adopted the Eagle Materials name.