Morgan Stanley Upgrades James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) to “Overweight”

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of James Hardie Industries in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on James Hardie Industries in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com raised James Hardie Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Macquarie cut James Hardie Industries from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.00.

James Hardie Industries Stock Performance

Shares of JHX stock opened at $24.25 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $32.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.90. James Hardie Industries has a 12 month low of $23.31 and a 12 month high of $43.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.01, a PEG ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 1.84.

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The construction company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.01. James Hardie Industries had a net margin of 11.15% and a return on equity of 33.65%. The business had revenue of $953.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $967.63 million. Equities research analysts forecast that James Hardie Industries will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of James Hardie Industries

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of JHX. M&T Bank Corp bought a new stake in shares of James Hardie Industries during the 3rd quarter valued at about $293,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in James Hardie Industries by 58.8% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 37,771 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,517,000 after purchasing an additional 13,981 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in James Hardie Industries by 22.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 160,273 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,435,000 after buying an additional 29,401 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of James Hardie Industries by 262.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,286 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $101,000 after buying an additional 2,380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of James Hardie Industries by 67.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 51,074 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,051,000 after buying an additional 20,496 shares during the period. 7.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

James Hardie Industries Company Profile

James Hardie Industries plc manufactures and sells fiber cement, fiber gypsum, and cement bonded building products for interior and exterior building construction applications primarily in the United States, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, and the Philippines. The company operates through North America Fiber Cement, Asia Pacific Fiber Cement, and Europe Building Products segments.