Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for CRH (NYSE:CRH) Stock

CRH (NYSE:CRH) had its target price hoisted by investment analysts at Citigroup from $106.00 to $108.00 in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the construction company’s stock. Citigroup‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 12.08% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on CRH. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on CRH from $159.50 to $126.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on CRH from $106.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Barclays cut their target price on CRH from $131.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of CRH from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their price target on shares of CRH from $135.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $125.08.

CRH Stock Up 6.1%

NYSE:CRH traded up $5.55 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $96.36. The company had a trading volume of 3,594,043 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,968,954. CRH has a 52-week low of $78.62 and a 52-week high of $131.55. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $87.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.24. The company has a market capitalization of $64.11 billion, a PE ratio of 18.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.33.

CRH (NYSE:CRH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The construction company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. CRH had a return on equity of 15.03% and a net margin of 9.19%. The business had revenue of $11.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that CRH will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of CRH

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CRH. Amundi increased its position in shares of CRH by 74.7% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 5,965,814 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $627,126,000 after acquiring an additional 2,550,178 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in CRH by 441.4% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,468,493 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $154,218,000 after purchasing an additional 1,197,255 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in CRH during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $79,124,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in CRH by 27.9% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,186,541 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $228,994,000 after purchasing an additional 477,242 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its holdings in CRH by 1,838.4% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 461,503 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $49,381,000 after buying an additional 437,694 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 62.50% of the company’s stock.

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.