James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) Reaches New 52-Week Low – Time to Sell?

Shares of James Hardie Industries PLC. (NYSE:JHX) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $16.98 and last traded at $17.7120, with a volume of 1024134 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $18.50.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on JHX. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on James Hardie Industries in a report on Friday, August 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of James Hardie Industries from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded James Hardie Industries from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Macquarie raised James Hardie Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of James Hardie Industries in a report on Thursday, August 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, James Hardie Industries presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.91.

James Hardie Industries Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 3.76 and a quick ratio of 3.31. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $20.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.73. The firm has a market cap of $7.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 14.34 and a beta of 1.79.

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 19th. The construction company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $899.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $982.60 million. James Hardie Industries had a net margin of 8.75% and a return on equity of 27.95%. James Hardie Industries’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that James Hardie Industries PLC. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JHX. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of James Hardie Industries in the second quarter worth about $654,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in James Hardie Industries by 5,001.3% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 997,875 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $23,510,000 after purchasing an additional 978,314 shares during the period. Private Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in James Hardie Industries during the first quarter valued at approximately $9,345,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in James Hardie Industries by 39.3% during the first quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 46,083 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,086,000 after purchasing an additional 12,990 shares during the period. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in James Hardie Industries during the first quarter valued at approximately $439,000. Institutional investors own 7.96% of the company’s stock.

James Hardie Industries Company Profile

James Hardie Industries plc manufactures and sells fiber cement, fiber gypsum, and cement bonded building products for interior and exterior building construction applications primarily in the United States, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, and the Philippines. The company operates through North America Fiber Cement, Asia Pacific Fiber Cement, and Europe Building Products segments.