Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) Rating Lowered to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Sunday morning.

EXP has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on Eagle Materials from $279.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $241.00 target price on Eagle Materials and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $242.00 target price on Eagle Materials and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Eagle Materials from $310.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their target price on Eagle Materials from $245.00 to $237.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $254.44.

Eagle Materials Stock Performance

Shares of EXP opened at $215.30 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $213.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $226.85. The stock has a market cap of $7.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65 and a beta of 1.26. Eagle Materials has a 52 week low of $191.91 and a 52 week high of $321.93.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The construction company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by ($0.26). The company had revenue of $470.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $483.14 million. Eagle Materials had a return on equity of 32.71% and a net margin of 20.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.24 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Eagle Materials will post 14.39 EPS for the current year.

Eagle Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 24th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Eagle Materials’s payout ratio is presently 7.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eagle Materials

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hi Line Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Eagle Materials during the 1st quarter worth $4,770,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 21.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 819 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $182,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 22,400 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,443 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,649,000 after purchasing an additional 2,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ausbil Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 469.7% in the 1st quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 2,951 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $655,000 after purchasing an additional 2,433 shares in the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Eagle Materials Company Profile

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.