Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also commented on EXP. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Eagle Materials in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Eagle Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Eagle Materials from $224.00 to $217.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Eagle Materials from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Eagle Materials in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $224.30.

Eagle Materials Stock Up 0.8%

EXP stock opened at $220.88 on Wednesday. Eagle Materials has a fifty-two week low of $171.99 and a fifty-two week high of $245.53. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $213.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $211.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 3.66. The company has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.83 and a beta of 1.37.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 19th. The construction company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.32. Eagle Materials had a return on equity of 28.27% and a net margin of 18.36%.The company had revenue of $479.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $451.99 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Eagle Materials will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eagle Materials

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in Eagle Materials by 21.5% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 2,019 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $448,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Eagle Materials by 102.4% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Eagle Materials by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 101,969 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $20,609,000 after purchasing an additional 5,612 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Eagle Materials by 8.0% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,364 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Eagle Materials by 359.9% in the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 12,510 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,528,000 after purchasing an additional 9,790 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Eagle Materials Company Profile

Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE:EXP) is a Dallas, Texas–based manufacturer of building materials serving construction and heavy industry markets across the United States. The company’s primary products include portland and masonry cements, gypsum wallboard, lightweight aggregate, paperboard packaging, and roofing granules. These product lines support a wide range of end uses—from residential and commercial buildings to infrastructure projects and industrial applications.

Since its spin-off from a major homebuilding company in 2004, Eagle Materials has grown through targeted facility expansions and strategic acquisitions.