James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) Upgraded to “Buy” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on JHX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of James Hardie Industries from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Macquarie upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st.

James Hardie Industries Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE JHX opened at $36.11 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.31. The stock has a market cap of $15.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 1.74. James Hardie Industries has a 12-month low of $24.28 and a 12-month high of $41.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The construction company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $991.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. James Hardie Industries had a net margin of 12.78% and a return on equity of 38.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that James Hardie Industries will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of James Hardie Industries

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of JHX. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of James Hardie Industries in the second quarter valued at about $12,162,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in James Hardie Industries by 186.0% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 335,239 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $13,564,000 after acquiring an additional 218,033 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in James Hardie Industries by 39.7% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 313,931 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $12,697,000 after acquiring an additional 89,165 shares during the last quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in James Hardie Industries during the second quarter worth about $1,671,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in James Hardie Industries by 72.2% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 43,820 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,683,000 after acquiring an additional 18,371 shares during the last quarter. 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.