Skylands Capital LLC Raises Stock Position in Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP)

Skylands Capital LLC grew its holdings in Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,955 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,120 shares during the period. Eagle Materials comprises about 1.3% of Skylands Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Skylands Capital LLC owned about 0.13% of Eagle Materials worth $9,119,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Eagle Materials during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Eagle Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Eagle Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake in Eagle Materials by 277.4% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 200 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Eagle Materials during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Institutional investors own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EXP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Eagle Materials from $244.00 to $311.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Eagle Materials from $238.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Eagle Materials from $170.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Stephens boosted their price objective on Eagle Materials from $250.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $263.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Matt Newby sold 2,940 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $738,381.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 21,819 shares in the company, valued at $5,479,841.85. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Eagle Materials news, EVP Matt Newby sold 2,940 shares of Eagle Materials stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $738,381.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 21,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,479,841.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Tony Thompson sold 638 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.07, for a total value of $149,974.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 14,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,383,362.51. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 6,925 shares of company stock valued at $1,693,376. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Eagle Materials Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE EXP traded up $1.14 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $257.84. 66,145 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 292,699. Eagle Materials Inc. has a 52 week low of $145.03 and a 52 week high of $272.72. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $255.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $215.17. The company has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a PE ratio of 18.12 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The construction company reported $3.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.56 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $558.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $537.23 million. Eagle Materials had a return on equity of 40.05% and a net margin of 22.24%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Eagle Materials Inc. will post 14.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Eagle Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Eagle Materials’s payout ratio is 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.