James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) Announces Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.01 EPS

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The construction company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.01), Zacks reports. James Hardie Industries had a return on equity of 33.65% and a net margin of 11.15%. The firm had revenue of $971.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $983.86 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.61 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis.

James Hardie Industries Trading Down 8.4%

NYSE:JHX opened at $23.13 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. James Hardie Industries has a 12 month low of $19.72 and a 12 month high of $43.57. The company’s 50 day moving average is $24.31 and its 200-day moving average is $30.07. The firm has a market cap of $9.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a P/E/G ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 1.80.

Institutional Trading of James Hardie Industries

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of James Hardie Industries by 160.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,697,663 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $63,557,000 after acquiring an additional 1,662,743 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in shares of James Hardie Industries by 222.4% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 279,009 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,573,000 after acquiring an additional 192,478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of James Hardie Industries by 17.0% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 50,801 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,197,000 after acquiring an additional 7,396 shares in the last quarter. 7.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of James Hardie Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial set a $45.00 price objective on shares of James Hardie Industries in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Raymond James set a $55.00 target price on shares of James Hardie Industries in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of James Hardie Industries from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $27.40 to $27.35 in a report on Thursday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, James Hardie Industries currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.45.

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.