Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) Shares Sold by Fmr LLC

Fmr LLC decreased its stake in shares of Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,671,463 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 129,794 shares during the period. Fmr LLC owned about 11.03% of Eagle Materials worth $905,970,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 78.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 37,948 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $10,915,000 after acquiring an additional 16,645 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Eagle Materials during the fourth quarter worth $8,890,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Eagle Materials by 242.4% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,789 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,922,000 after purchasing an additional 5,514 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Eagle Materials by 60.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,735,133 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $499,111,000 after purchasing an additional 652,836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Eagle Materials during the fourth quarter worth $38,115,000. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on EXP shares. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Eagle Materials from $280.00 to $245.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Eagle Materials from $310.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Eagle Materials in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. They set a “hold” rating and a $242.00 price objective for the company. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Eagle Materials in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $330.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $279.40.

Eagle Materials Stock Down 2.7 %

Eagle Materials stock opened at $211.48 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $232.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $263.18. The stock has a market cap of $7.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.11 and a beta of 1.25. Eagle Materials Inc. has a 52 week low of $205.44 and a 52 week high of $321.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last announced its 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 return on equity of 34.14% and a net margin of 20.91%. On average, analysts expect that Eagle Materials Inc. will post 14.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eagle Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 14th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Eagle Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Michael R. Nicolais purchased 310 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were bought at an average price of $257.36 per share, with a total value 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 represents a 9.27 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.