Markel Group Inc. Acquires Shares of 3,500 Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE:EXP)

Markel Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE:EXP) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 3,500 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $777,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Eagle Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $93,672,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 26,787.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 181,761 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $40,338,000 after purchasing an additional 181,085 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 111.1% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 331,081 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $73,477,000 after purchasing an additional 174,241 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Eagle Materials in the fourth quarter worth $38,115,000. Finally, Baupost Group LLC MA lifted its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 27.6% in the fourth quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA now owns 638,223 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $157,488,000 after purchasing an additional 137,950 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stephens set a $255.00 price objective on shares of Eagle Materials and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Eagle Materials from $279.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Eagle Materials from $245.00 to $237.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $241.00 price objective on shares of Eagle Materials and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Eagle Materials from $260.00 to $245.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $254.44.

Eagle Materials Trading Up 2.0%

EXP stock opened at $216.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 2.73. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $211.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $225.53. Eagle Materials Inc has a 52 week low of $191.91 and a 52 week high of $321.93. The company has a market capitalization of $7.05 billion, a PE ratio of 15.71 and a beta of 1.26.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The construction company reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.34 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $470.18 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $483.14 million. Eagle Materials had a net margin of 20.50% and a return on equity of 32.71%. The company’s revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.24 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Eagle Materials Inc will post 14.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Eagle Materials Dividend Announcement

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

About Eagle Materials

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.