James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) Lowered to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning.

Separately, Bank of America downgraded James Hardie Industries from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $35.50 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd.

James Hardie Industries Price Performance

James Hardie Industries stock opened at $34.28 on Tuesday. James Hardie Industries has a 12 month low of $21.76 and a 12 month high of $41.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.94 billion, a PE ratio of 28.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.65.

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The construction company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $978.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $960.23 million. James Hardie Industries had a net margin of 13.93% and a return on equity of 38.75%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.29 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that James Hardie Industries will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On James Hardie Industries

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in JHX. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of James Hardie Industries in the first quarter valued at about $71,000. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in James Hardie Industries by 41.6% in the first quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 15,713 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $636,000 after buying an additional 4,613 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of James Hardie Industries during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of James Hardie Industries by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 8,622 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $349,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of James Hardie Industries by 38.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,219 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the period. 7.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

James Hardie Industries Company Profile

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.