Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $281.00.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on EXP shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Eagle Materials from $238.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Raymond James downgraded shares of Eagle Materials from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Eagle Materials from $270.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Eagle Materials from $250.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eagle Materials

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of EXP. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC increased its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 957,818 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $194,284,000 after acquiring an additional 63,636 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 5.5% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 919,714 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $249,932,000 after acquiring an additional 47,744 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 716,585 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $145,356,000 after acquiring an additional 14,416 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 133.0% during the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 662,628 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $134,407,000 after acquiring an additional 378,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 61.6% during the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 509,605 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $138,485,000 after acquiring an additional 194,342 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Eagle Materials Price Performance

NYSE:EXP opened at $272.31 on Friday. Eagle Materials has a 12 month low of $145.03 and a 12 month high of $279.69. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $228.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $241.43. The firm has a market cap of $9.22 billion, a PE ratio of 19.99 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The construction company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.37. Eagle Materials had a net margin of 21.14% and a return on equity of 37.31%. The company had revenue of $608.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $622.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.55 earnings per share. Eagle Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Eagle Materials will post 15.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eagle Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 17th. Eagle Materials’s payout ratio is presently 7.34%.

Eagle Materials Company 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, including Portland limestone 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, as well as well as containerboard and lightweight packaging grades; manufacture and sale of recycled paperboard to the gypsum wallboard industry and other paperboard converters; the sale of readymix concrete; and mining and sale of aggregates, such as crushed stone, sand, and gravel.