William Blair Investment Management LLC Sells 56,506 Shares of Eagle Materials Inc $EXP

William Blair Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE:EXP) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 558,744 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 56,506 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Eagle Materials were worth $115,481,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Eagle Materials by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,012 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $623,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Eagle Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $285,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in Eagle Materials by 1,242.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 282 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares during the period. Hi Line Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Eagle Materials by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Hi Line Capital Management LLC now owns 32,728 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,772,000 after purchasing an additional 1,930 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in Eagle Materials by 389.3% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 137 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on EXP shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Eagle Materials from $240.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective (down from $230.00) on shares of Eagle Materials in a report on Monday, February 16th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Eagle Materials from $225.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Zacks Research raised Eagle Materials from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Stephens lowered their price target on Eagle Materials from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $223.30.

Eagle Materials Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of EXP stock opened at $199.30 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.19 and a beta of 1.38. Eagle Materials Inc has a twelve month low of $171.99 and a twelve month high of $243.64. The company has a quick ratio of 2.68, a current ratio of 3.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $196.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $210.49.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 19th. The construction company reported $1.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $479.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $451.99 million. Eagle Materials had a return on equity of 28.27% and a net margin of 18.36%.Eagle Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.00 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Eagle Materials Inc will post 12.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eagle Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Eagle Materials’s payout ratio is currently 7.62%.

About Eagle Materials

Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE:EXP) is a Dallas, Texas–based manufacturer of building materials serving construction and heavy industry markets across the United States. The company’s primary products include portland and masonry cements, gypsum wallboard, lightweight aggregate, paperboard packaging, and roofing granules. These product lines support a wide range of end uses—from residential and commercial buildings to infrastructure projects and industrial applications.

Since its spin-off from a major homebuilding company in 2004, Eagle Materials has grown through targeted facility expansions and strategic acquisitions.