Virtu Financial LLC Makes New Investment in Eagle Materials Inc $EXP

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE:EXP) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 7,907 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,634,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Eagle Materials by 36.2% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,820 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in Eagle Materials by 141.8% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 5,136 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,062,000 after purchasing an additional 3,012 shares in the last quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury raised its position in Eagle Materials by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 12,436 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,535,000 after purchasing an additional 483 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Eagle Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $223,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Eagle Materials by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $752,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Eagle Materials Stock Performance

Eagle Materials stock opened at $224.86 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $208.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $211.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 2.09 and a current ratio of 3.66. The stock has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14 and a beta of 1.37. Eagle Materials Inc has a fifty-two week low of $171.99 and a fifty-two week high of $243.64.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 19th. The construction company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.32. Eagle Materials had a net margin of 18.36% and a return on equity of 28.27%. The business had revenue of $479.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $451.99 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.00 earnings per share. Eagle Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Eagle Materials Inc will post 13.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eagle Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Eagle Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EXP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Eagle Materials from $208.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Zacks Research upgraded Eagle Materials from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Eagle Materials from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Eagle Materials in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Eagle Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Eagle Materials has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $224.30.

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.