Picton Mahoney Asset Management Buys Shares of 31,716 Eagle Materials Inc $EXP

Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE:EXP) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 31,716 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,389,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its holdings in Eagle Materials by 15.3% during the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 99,319 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $23,145,000 after buying an additional 13,147 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Eagle Materials by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 615,250 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $143,378,000 after acquiring an additional 3,505 shares in the last quarter. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc increased its holdings in shares of Eagle Materials by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. Foyston Gordon & Payne Inc now owns 2,162 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Eagle Materials by 113.2% in the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 26,238 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,115,000 after acquiring an additional 13,931 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 534,380 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $124,532,000 after acquiring an additional 13,104 shares in the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on EXP shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Eagle Materials in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Eagle Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Eagle Materials from $251.00 to $241.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $215.00 target price (down from $230.00) on shares of Eagle Materials in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Eagle Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Eagle Materials has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $228.36.

Eagle Materials Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE EXP opened at $211.59 on Thursday. Eagle Materials Inc has a 12-month low of $191.91 and a 12-month high of $243.64. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $223.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $224.37. The company has a current ratio of 4.27, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market cap of $6.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.02 and a beta of 1.35.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The construction company reported $3.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.32 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $555.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $556.41 million. Eagle Materials had a net margin of 18.70% and a return on equity of 28.96%. Eagle Materials’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.59 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Eagle Materials Inc will post 14.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Eagle Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Eagle Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.57%.

About Eagle Materials

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.