Crh Plc $CRH Stock Position Increased by National Pension Service

National Pension Service increased its position in Crh Plc (NYSE:CRH) by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,020,187 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 111,824 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned about 0.30% of CRH worth $216,160,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CRH. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in CRH by 10,631.6% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 83,361,667 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,919,698,000 after acquiring an additional 82,584,877 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CRH in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,476,939,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of CRH by 81.3% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,895,205 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,106,927,000 after purchasing an additional 11,167,189 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in CRH by 67.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,709,575 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,827,252,000 after purchasing an additional 5,916,930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in CRH by 74.7% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 5,965,814 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $627,126,000 after purchasing an additional 2,550,178 shares during the last quarter. 62.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on CRH. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of CRH from $149.00 to $165.60 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings raised CRH from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Citigroup cut CRH from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on CRH from $132.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of CRH in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CRH currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $139.57.

CRH Price Performance

CRH stock opened at $87.66 on Friday. Crh Plc has a fifty-two week low of $86.84 and a fifty-two week high of $131.55. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $98.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.40. The company has a market cap of $58.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.33.

CRH (NYSE:CRH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The construction company reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.19. CRH had a net margin of 9.93% and a return on equity of 15.76%. The business had revenue of $10.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Crh Plc will post 5.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CRH Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. CRH’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.51%.

CRH Profile

CRH plc is a global building materials company that supplies products and solutions used in residential, commercial and infrastructure construction. Its offerings include aggregates, cement, ready-mixed concrete, asphalt, architectural products, precast concrete and other construction-related materials and services.

The company serves customers across North America and Europe, with operations spanning construction materials, infrastructure products and building solutions. CRH supports projects such as roads, bridges, airports, utilities, commercial buildings and residential developments.

CRH was formed in 1970 through the merger of Cement Limited and Roadstone, two Irish building materials businesses.