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

Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,060,000 shares, an increase of 6.7% from the March 15th total of 993,200 shares. Currently, 3.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 300,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on EXP. Citigroup increased their target price on Eagle Materials from $244.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Eagle Materials from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com lowered Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Loop Capital raised Eagle Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Eagle Materials from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $257.00.

Insider Activity at Eagle Materials

In related news, SVP William R. Devlin sold 2,354 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.95, for a total value of $505,992.30. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 24,998 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,373,320.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Eagle Materials news, SVP William R. Devlin sold 2,354 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $214.95, for a total transaction of $505,992.30. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 24,998 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,373,320.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Tony Thompson sold 638 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.07, for a total value of $149,974.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 14,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,362.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,444 shares of company stock worth $4,414,889. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eagle Materials

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 3.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,841,414 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $411,723,000 after purchasing an additional 110,695 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 41.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,510,906 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $418,116,000 after purchasing an additional 730,454 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 22.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,097,542 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $182,763,000 after purchasing an additional 203,862 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 0.3% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,056,912 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $135,929,000 after purchasing an additional 3,684 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Eagle Materials by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,053,983 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $140,022,000 after buying an additional 58,727 shares in the last quarter. 96.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Eagle Materials Price Performance

Shares of EXP opened at $244.62 on Thursday. Eagle Materials has a 1 year low of $143.23 and a 1 year high of $272.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a market capitalization of $8.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.26 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50-day moving average of $255.16 and a 200-day moving average of $210.86.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The construction company reported $3.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.56 by $0.16. Eagle Materials had a return on equity of 40.05% and a net margin of 22.24%. The firm had revenue of $558.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $537.23 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Eagle Materials will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Eagle Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Eagle Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.06%.

Eagle Materials Company Profile

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; 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.