American Trust Has $484,000 Stock Holdings in Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP)

American Trust cut its position in shares of Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) by 13.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,781 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 277 shares during the period. American Trust’s holdings in Eagle Materials were worth $484,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Eagle Materials by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 957,818 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $194,284,000 after purchasing an additional 63,636 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Eagle Materials by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 919,714 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $249,932,000 after buying an additional 47,744 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Eagle Materials by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 716,585 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $145,356,000 after buying an additional 14,416 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Eagle Materials by 133.0% during the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 662,628 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $134,407,000 after buying an additional 378,296 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Eagle Materials by 61.6% during the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 509,605 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $138,485,000 after buying an additional 194,342 shares during the period. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EXP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Eagle Materials from $280.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Eagle Materials from $270.00 to $283.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Eagle Materials from $300.00 to $286.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Eagle Materials from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $289.78.

Eagle Materials Price Performance

EXP stock traded down $8.17 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $253.59. 495,057 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 421,227. Eagle Materials Inc. has a 52 week low of $145.03 and a 52 week high of $279.69. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $229.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $242.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.53 billion, a PE ratio of 18.62 and a beta of 1.32.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The construction company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.57 by $0.37. Eagle Materials had a return on equity of 37.10% and a net margin of 21.65%. The company had revenue of $608.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $622.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Eagle Materials Inc. will post 15.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eagle Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. Eagle Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Eric Cribbs sold 1,851 shares of Eagle Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.06, for a total transaction of $512,838.06. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,861,385.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Eagle Materials news, CFO Dale Craig Kesler sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.76, for a total transaction of $1,333,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 60,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,135,778.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric Cribbs sold 1,851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.06, for a total transaction of $512,838.06. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,861,385.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.