HighTower Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Crh Plc (NYSE:CRH)

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its position in Crh Plc (NYSE:CRH) by 6.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 175,273 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 12,787 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in CRH were worth $15,419,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in CRH by 62.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,755,468 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,608,567,000 after purchasing an additional 24,591,538 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in CRH by 43.2% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,303,788 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $906,424,000 after purchasing an additional 3,108,416 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in CRH by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,830,489 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $776,818,000 after purchasing an additional 221,038 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in CRH in the 1st quarter valued at $597,888,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in CRH by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,222,060 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $459,385,000 after purchasing an additional 504,463 shares during the last quarter. 62.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $112.00 price objective (up from $108.00) on shares of CRH in a research note on Friday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of CRH in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 target price (down from $120.00) on shares of CRH in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of CRH in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Vertical Research raised CRH to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $113.18.

CRH Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:CRH opened at $110.79 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $96.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.35. The company has a market capitalization of $74.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.18, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.26. Crh Plc has a 12-month low of $76.75 and a 12-month high of $113.95.

CRH (NYSE:CRH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The construction company reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by ($0.12). CRH had a return on equity of 15.68% and a net margin of 9.09%. The business had revenue of $10.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Crh Plc will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CRH Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 22nd. CRH’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.22%.

CRH Company Profile

CRH plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides building materials solutions in Ireland and internationally. It operates through four segments: Americas Materials Solutions, Americas Building Solutions, Europe Materials Solutions, and Europe Building Solutions. The company provides solutions for the construction and maintenance of public infrastructure and commercial and residential buildings; and produces and sells aggregates, cement, readymixed concrete, and asphalt, as well as provides paving and construction services.