Robert W. Baird Cuts James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) Price Target to $26.00

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) had its price target lowered by Robert W. Baird from $28.00 to $26.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the construction company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Oppenheimer set a $28.00 price objective on James Hardie Industries and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Vertical Research initiated coverage on James Hardie Industries in a research report on Monday, October 20th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Macquarie upgraded James Hardie Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Citigroup upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of James Hardie Industries in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, James Hardie Industries currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $27.42.

James Hardie Industries Price Performance

NYSE JHX opened at $18.66 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.76, a quick ratio of 3.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.21. The company has a market cap of $8.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.23, a P/E/G ratio of 14.34 and a beta of 1.82. James Hardie Industries has a 1 year low of $16.46 and a 1 year high of $37.65.

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 17th. The construction company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.30 billion. James Hardie Industries had a net margin of 8.75% and a return on equity of 27.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that James Hardie Industries will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in James Hardie Industries by 12.1% during the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,683 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of James Hardie Industries by 70.4% during the 2nd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,101 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of James Hardie Industries by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 8,029 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $151,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC increased its stake in James Hardie Industries by 2.9% in the second quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 19,203 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $516,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. Finally, Greenleaf Trust raised its position in James Hardie Industries by 7.1% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 10,645 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares in the last quarter. 7.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About James Hardie Industries

James Hardie Industries plc manufactures and sells fiber cement, fiber gypsum, and cement bonded building products for interior and exterior building construction applications primarily in the United States, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, and the Philippines. The company operates through North America Fiber Cement, Asia Pacific Fiber Cement, and Europe Building Products segments.