Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Raises Holdings in Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its position in shares of Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 65,576 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 1,894 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC owned 0.20% of Eagle Materials worth $16,182,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EXP. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in Eagle Materials by 34.6% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 21,828 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,279,000 after purchasing an additional 5,614 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Eagle Materials by 23.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 13,924 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,005,000 after buying an additional 2,679 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Eagle Materials by 43.1% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,395 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 789.9% during the third quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 703 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in shares of Eagle Materials by 0.3% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 81,969 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $23,579,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EXP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $330.00 to $310.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $310.00 price target on shares of Eagle Materials in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup cut shares of Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $334.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Eagle Materials from $265.00 to $260.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Eagle Materials from $310.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Eagle Materials has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $286.40.

Eagle Materials Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of EXP opened at $228.48 on Wednesday. Eagle Materials Inc. has a 1 year low of $205.44 and a 1 year high of $321.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 2.76 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $238.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $265.99. The firm has a market cap of $7.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.32 and a beta of 1.37.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.97 by ($0.38). Eagle Materials had a return on equity of 34.14% and a net margin of 20.91%. On average, analysts forecast that Eagle Materials Inc. will post 14.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eagle Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Eagle Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.14%.

Insider Transactions at Eagle Materials

In other news, Director Michael R. Nicolais bought 310 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $257.36 per share, for a total transaction of $79,781.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,655 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $940,650.80. This trade represents a 9.27 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company 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.