Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) Stock Price Target Raised at Citigroup

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) had its target price upped by stock analysts at Citigroup from $190.00 to $214.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the construction company’s stock. Citigroup‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 14.89% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Eagle Materials from $232.00 to $207.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Eagle Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Eagle Materials from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. DA Davidson set a $195.00 target price on shares of Eagle Materials in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Eagle Materials in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Eagle Materials presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $193.33.

Eagle Materials Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:EXP traded down $2.97 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $186.27. 379,014 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 456,159. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 3.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The business’s 50 day moving average is $179.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $201.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a PE ratio of 15.46 and a beta of 1.29. Eagle Materials has a one year low of $160.02 and a one year high of $245.53.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The construction company reported $3.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.82 by ($0.19). Eagle Materials had a net margin of 16.11% and a return on equity of 25.16%. The business had revenue of $652.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $633.08 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Eagle Materials will post 12.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eagle Materials news, SVP Tony Thompson sold 3,074 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.96, for a total value of $626,973.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 10,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,068,562.32. This represents a 23.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Eagle Materials during the second quarter valued at $688,486,000. W1M Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Eagle Materials during the second quarter valued at $155,199,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Eagle Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at about $129,760,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Eagle Materials by 2.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 627,427 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $118,846,000 after purchasing an additional 16,782 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Eagle Materials in the 2nd quarter worth $66,255,000. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Eagle Materials

Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE: EXP) is a U.S.-based manufacturer of building materials used in residential, commercial, infrastructure and industrial construction. The company’s principal products include cement, gypsum wallboard, concrete and aggregates.

Its cement business produces and distributes Portland cement and related cement products, while its gypsum wallboard business supplies panels used in interior construction. Eagle Materials also provides ready-mixed concrete and construction aggregates, including crushed stone, sand and gravel, for building and infrastructure projects.

The company traces its history to Centex Construction Products, which was spun off from Centex Corporation in 1994 and later adopted the Eagle Materials name.