CRH (NYSE:CRH) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of CRH (NYSE:CRH) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a hold rating and set a $82.00 price target (up previously from $80.00) on shares of CRH in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of CRH from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and boosted their price target for the company from $87.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of CRH in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. They set an overweight rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of CRH from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of CRH from $109.00 to $99.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CRH presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $91.90.

CRH Stock Up 7.2 %

Shares of CRH opened at $81.54 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $78.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.25. CRH has a 52-week low of $51.59 and a 52-week high of $88.00.

CRH (NYSE:CRH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 10th. The construction company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $6.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.60 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that CRH will post 5.39 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of CRH

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CRH during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,014,454,000. Greenhaven Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of CRH by 0.8% during the second quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 11,120,064 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $833,782,000 after buying an additional 91,267 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of CRH by 5.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,618,144 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $646,188,000 after buying an additional 431,172 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of CRH by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,106,296 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $560,933,000 after buying an additional 937,804 shares during the period. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC increased its stake in CRH by 3,384.4% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 6,781,697 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $469,022,000 after purchasing an additional 6,587,066 shares during the last quarter. 62.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CRH Company Profile

CRH plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides building materials solutions in Ireland and internationally. It operates through four segments: Americas Materials Solutions, Americas Building Solutions, Europe Materials Solutions, and Europe Building Solutions. The company provides solutions for the construction and maintenance of public infrastructure and commercial and residential buildings; and produces and sells aggregates, cement, readymixed concrete, and asphalt, as well as provides paving and construction services.