Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the construction company on Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%.

Eagle Materials has raised its dividend by an average of 10.1% annually over the last three years. Eagle Materials has a dividend payout ratio of 5.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Eagle Materials to earn $16.57 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 6.0%.

Eagle Materials Price Performance

EXP stock traded up $3.92 during trading on Thursday, hitting $259.28. The company had a trading volume of 385,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 312,158. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $261.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $270.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $8.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.52 and a beta of 1.37. Eagle Materials has a fifty-two week low of $211.44 and a fifty-two week high of $321.93.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.97 by ($0.38). Eagle Materials had a net margin of 20.91% and a return on equity of 34.14%. Equities research analysts expect that Eagle Materials will post 14.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup downgraded Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $334.00 to $280.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Loop Capital cut Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $315.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 25th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on Eagle Materials from $265.00 to $260.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Eagle Materials from $277.00 to $317.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Eagle Materials from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Eagle Materials has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $296.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael Haack sold 11,888 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.50, for a total value of $3,691,224.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,811 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,644,315.50. This represents a 12.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Richard Ross Stewart sold 3,577 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.30, for a total value of $1,074,173.10. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $330,330. This represents a 76.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.