James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Macquarie upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of James Hardie Industries from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st.

James Hardie Industries Stock Performance

JHX stock opened at $37.41 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $33.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.39. James Hardie Industries has a 12 month low of $24.28 and a 12 month high of $41.98. The company has a market capitalization of $16.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 13th. The construction company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.03. James Hardie Industries had a return on equity of 38.97% and a net margin of 12.96%. The business had revenue of $991.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that James Hardie Industries will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On James Hardie Industries

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of JHX. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in James Hardie Industries in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of James Hardie Industries during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of James Hardie Industries by 55.7% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,045 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 374 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in James Hardie Industries by 693.2% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,158 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of James Hardie Industries in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $66,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.