Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Buys New Position in Crh Plc $CRH

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Crh Plc (NYSE:CRH) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 74,266 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,149,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CRH. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of CRH by 15.2% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 23,311 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,930,000 after acquiring an additional 3,083 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in CRH by 325.6% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 8,316 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $689,000 after acquiring an additional 6,362 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in CRH by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 127,122 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $10,526,000 after purchasing an additional 6,602 shares during the period. Tectonic Advisors LLC boosted its stake in CRH by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 110,044 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $9,112,000 after purchasing an additional 5,152 shares during the period. Finally, Winthrop Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in CRH by 12.8% in the 3rd quarter. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,498 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRH has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on CRH from $165.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 9th. Stephens cut their price target on CRH from $125.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Berenberg Bank set a $140.00 price objective on CRH in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on CRH from $147.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on CRH from $159.50 to $126.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CRH currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $126.50.

CRH Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of CRH opened at $85.38 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $56.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.79, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.31. Crh Plc has a 1-year low of $78.62 and a 1-year high of $131.55. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.24.

CRH (NYSE:CRH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The construction company reported $2.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.19. CRH had a net margin of 9.93% and a return on equity of 15.76%. The firm had revenue of $10.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Crh Plc will post 5.83 earnings per share for the current year.

CRH Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CRH’s payout ratio is currently 27.51%.

About CRH

CRH plc is a global building materials company that supplies products and solutions used in residential, commercial and infrastructure construction. Its activities include the production and distribution of aggregates, asphalt, ready-mixed concrete, cement and other construction materials, as well as value-added products such as precast concrete, architectural products and site-development solutions.

The company serves customers across North America and Europe, including contractors, construction companies, infrastructure developers, distributors and public-sector organizations.