John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Has $832,000 Holdings in Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,100 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Eagle Materials were worth $832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EXP. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Eagle Materials by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 10,727 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,377,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of Eagle Materials by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,810 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Eagle Materials by 29.5% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 25,532 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,277,000 after buying an additional 5,821 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in shares of Eagle Materials by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 14,478 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,858,000 after buying an additional 993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its holdings in shares of Eagle Materials by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 22,071 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,347 shares during the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on EXP shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Eagle Materials from $170.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Eagle Materials from $238.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Eagle Materials from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Loop Capital raised shares of Eagle Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $170.00 to $240.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $257.00.

Insider Activity at Eagle Materials

In other Eagle Materials news, CFO Dale Craig Kesler sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $215.60, for a total transaction of $1,078,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,498,716. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director David B. Powers sold 3,347 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.52, for a total transaction of $805,020.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $157,540.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Dale Craig Kesler sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.60, for a total transaction of $1,078,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 62,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,498,716. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,444 shares of company stock worth $4,414,889 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Eagle Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EXP opened at $238.19 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.81 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $255.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Eagle Materials Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $143.44 and a fifty-two week high of $272.72.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The construction company reported $3.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.56 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $558.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $537.23 million. Eagle Materials had a net margin of 22.24% and a return on equity of 40.05%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Eagle Materials Inc. will post 14.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Eagle Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Eagle Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 7.06%.

Eagle Materials Profile

Eagle Materials Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells heavy construction materials and light building materials in the United States. It operates in four segments: Cement, Concrete and Aggregates, Gypsum Wallboard, and Recycled Paperboard. The company engages in the mining of limestone for the manufacture, production, distribution, and sale of Portland cement; grinding and sale of slag; and mining of gypsum for the manufacture and sale of gypsum wallboards used to finish the interior walls and ceilings in residential, commercial, and industrial structures.