Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) Short Interest Update

Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,390,000 shares, a growth of 43.0% from the February 28th total of 971,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 354,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days. Approximately 4.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Eagle Materials news, Director Michael R. Nicolais bought 310 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $257.36 per share, for a total transaction of $79,781.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,655 shares in the company, valued at approximately $940,650.80. This trade represents a 9.27 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Eagle Materials

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EXP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Eagle Materials by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,801,532 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $444,546,000 after acquiring an additional 66,399 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Eagle Materials by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 722,995 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $178,450,000 after purchasing an additional 15,388 shares during the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA raised its holdings in shares of Eagle Materials by 27.6% in the 4th quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA now owns 638,223 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $157,488,000 after purchasing an additional 137,950 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Eagle Materials by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 594,899 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $146,797,000 after purchasing an additional 55,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Eagle Materials by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 592,069 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $146,099,000 after purchasing an additional 13,988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on EXP shares. Citigroup lowered shares of Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $334.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Loop Capital dropped their price target on Eagle Materials from $280.00 to $245.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $330.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price 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. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $310.00 price target on shares of Eagle Materials in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $279.40.

Eagle Materials Price Performance

EXP stock traded up $5.49 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $227.42. The company had a trading volume of 390,996 shares, compared to its average volume of 319,174. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.24 and a beta of 1.37. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $235.12 and a 200 day moving average of $264.88. Eagle Materials has a fifty-two week low of $205.44 and a fifty-two week high of $321.93.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $3.59 earnings per share (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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Eagle Materials will post 14.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Eagle Materials Announces Dividend

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

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.