Eagle Materials Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.25 (NYSE:EXP)

Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, August 5th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the construction company on Thursday, October 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th.

Eagle Materials has increased its dividend payment by an average of 115.4% per year over the last three years. Eagle Materials has a dividend payout ratio of 5.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Eagle Materials to earn $17.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 5.6%.

Eagle Materials Price Performance

Shares of EXP stock opened at $245.77 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $8.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.04 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $229.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $243.11. Eagle Materials has a one year low of $145.03 and a one year high of $279.69.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The construction company reported $3.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.57 by $0.37. The company had revenue of $608.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $622.06 million. Eagle Materials had a return on equity of 37.10% and a net margin of 21.65%. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.55 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Eagle Materials will post 15.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Eagle Materials

In other news, CFO Dale Craig Kesler sold 5,000 shares of Eagle Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.76, for a total transaction of $1,333,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 60,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,135,778.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Dale Craig Kesler sold 5,000 shares of Eagle Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.76, for a total transaction of $1,333,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 60,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,135,778.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric Cribbs sold 1,851 shares of Eagle Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.06, for a total value of $512,838.06. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,861,385.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on EXP shares. Loop Capital cut their price target on Eagle Materials from $310.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Citigroup upped their price target on Eagle Materials from $252.00 to $311.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Eagle Materials from $300.00 to $286.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Eagle Materials from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $289.78.

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, 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.