Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires 12,000 Shares of Eagle Materials Inc $EXP

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE:EXP) by 103.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,600 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 12,000 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned 0.08% of Eagle Materials worth $4,036,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EXP. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Eagle Materials during the 2nd quarter worth $688,486,000. W1M Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in Eagle Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $155,199,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Eagle Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $129,760,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Eagle Materials by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 627,427 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $118,846,000 after purchasing an additional 16,782 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Eagle Materials in the second quarter worth $66,255,000. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EXP has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on Eagle Materials from $190.00 to $214.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Eagle Materials from $188.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 5th. Zacks Research cut shares of Eagle Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Eagle Materials from $232.00 to $207.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Eagle Materials from $225.00 to $200.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $193.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Eagle Materials news, SVP Tony Thompson sold 3,074 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.96, for a total value of $626,973.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 10,142 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,562.32. This trade represents a 23.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Eagle Materials Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of EXP stock opened at $182.29 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.13 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $178.63 and a 200-day moving average of $201.03. Eagle Materials Inc has a 12-month low of $160.02 and a 12-month high of $245.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 3.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The construction company reported $3.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.82 by ($0.19). Eagle Materials had a return on equity of 25.16% and a net margin of 16.11%. The firm had revenue of $652.75 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $633.08 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.23 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Eagle Materials Inc will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eagle Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 14th. Eagle Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.30%.

Eagle Materials Company Profile

Eagle Materials Inc. is a U.S.-based producer of building materials used in residential, commercial and infrastructure construction. Its products include cement, ready-mixed concrete, aggregates, gypsum wallboard and recycled paperboard. The company operates through businesses focused on cement and concrete products, gypsum wallboard, and paperboard. Its gypsum operations also produce materials used in wallboard finishing, while its paperboard business makes recycled paperboard used in packaging and other applications.