Eagle Materials Inc. (EXP) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.25 on October 17th

Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, August 5th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the construction company on Thursday, October 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th.

Eagle Materials has raised its dividend by an average of 115.4% per year over the last three years. Eagle Materials has a payout ratio of 5.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Eagle Materials to earn $18.09 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 5.5%.

Eagle Materials Price Performance

Eagle Materials stock opened at $270.68 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.87 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $245.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $246.04. Eagle Materials has a 12-month low of $145.03 and a 12-month high of $279.69. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The construction company reported $3.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.57 by $0.37. Eagle Materials had a net margin of 21.65% and a return on equity of 37.10%. The business had revenue of $608.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $622.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.55 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Eagle Materials will post 15.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Dale Craig Kesler sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.76, for a total value of $1,333,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 60,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,135,778.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Dale Craig Kesler sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.76, for a total transaction of $1,333,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 60,488 shares in the company, valued at $16,135,778.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric Cribbs sold 1,851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.06, for a total value of $512,838.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,861,385.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EXP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James cut shares of Eagle Materials from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Eagle Materials from $300.00 to $286.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Eagle Materials from $252.00 to $311.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Eagle Materials from $270.00 to $283.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $289.78.

About Eagle Materials

Eagle Materials Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells heavy construction materials and light building materials in the United States. It operates in four segments: Cement, Concrete and Aggregates, Gypsum Wallboard, and Recycled Paperboard. The company engages in the mining of limestone for the manufacture, production, distribution, and sale of Portland cement, including Portland limestone cement; grinding and sale of slag; and mining of gypsum for the manufacture and sale of gypsum wallboards used to finish the interior walls and ceilings in residential, commercial, and industrial structures, as well as well as containerboard and lightweight packaging grades; manufacture and sale of recycled paperboard to the gypsum wallboard industry and other paperboard converters; the sale of readymix concrete; and mining and sale of aggregates, such as crushed stone, sand, and gravel.