HighTower Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP)

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) by 18.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,420 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 533 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Eagle Materials were worth $844,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Eagle Materials by 30.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,801,257 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,093,432,000 after acquiring an additional 878,400 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Eagle Materials by 60.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,735,133 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $499,111,000 after purchasing an additional 652,836 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Eagle Materials by 3.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 707,607 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $203,585,000 after purchasing an additional 23,911 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Eagle Materials by 2.7% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 349,756 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $100,607,000 after purchasing an additional 9,216 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Eagle Materials by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 322,384 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $79,551,000 after buying an additional 2,216 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Eagle Materials Stock Performance

Shares of EXP stock opened at $225.77 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Eagle Materials Inc. has a 12-month low of $205.44 and a 12-month high of $321.93. The company has a market cap of $7.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.13 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $237.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $265.45.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.97 by ($0.38). Eagle Materials had a return on equity of 34.14% and a net margin of 20.91%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Eagle Materials Inc. will post 14.39 EPS for the current year.

Eagle Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Eagle Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.14%.

Insider Activity

In other Eagle Materials news, Director Michael R. Nicolais purchased 310 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $257.36 per share, for a total transaction of $79,781.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $940,650.80. This trade represents a 9.27 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EXP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup cut Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $334.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Eagle Materials in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Eagle Materials in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $242.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Eagle Materials from $310.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $330.00 to $310.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eagle Materials presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $286.40.

About Eagle Materials

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.