Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Reduces Holdings in Crh Plc $CRH

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. decreased its holdings in Crh Plc (NYSE:CRH) by 6.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,336 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 502 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in CRH were worth $673,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CRH. Longbow Finance SA raised its stake in CRH by 134.0% during the 2nd quarter. Longbow Finance SA now owns 75,287 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,911,000 after acquiring an additional 43,112 shares during the period. GAM Holding AG bought a new stake in CRH during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $13,374,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in CRH during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp raised its stake in CRH by 77.0% during the 2nd quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 22,132 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,032,000 after acquiring an additional 9,630 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in CRH by 67.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,562 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $327,000 after acquiring an additional 1,437 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on CRH. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CRH in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of CRH in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $138.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of CRH to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Morgan Stanley set a $134.00 target price on shares of CRH in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of CRH from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $127.71.

CRH Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CRH opened at $118.00 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $79.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $115.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $103.00. Crh Plc has a 52-week low of $76.75 and a 52-week high of $121.99.

CRH (NYSE:CRH) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $10.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.27 billion. CRH had a net margin of 9.09% and a return on equity of 15.68%. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Crh Plc will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CRH Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd were given a $0.37 dividend. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. CRH’s payout ratio is currently 23.22%.

About CRH

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.