9,800 Shares in Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) Purchased by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 9,800 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,988,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXP. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Eagle Materials by 9.2% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 10,727 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,377,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Eagle Materials by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,810 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Eagle Materials by 29.5% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 25,532 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,277,000 after acquiring an additional 5,821 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its stake in shares of Eagle Materials by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 14,478 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,858,000 after purchasing an additional 993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its stake in shares of Eagle Materials by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 22,071 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,913,000 after purchasing an additional 1,347 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EXP has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Eagle Materials from $238.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Eagle Materials from $244.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Loop Capital raised shares of Eagle Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Eagle Materials from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $257.00.

Insider Activity at Eagle Materials

In related news, EVP Matt Newby sold 2,940 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Eric Cribbs sold 2,000 shares of Eagle Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $214.66, for a total transaction of $429,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,654 shares in the company, valued at $3,360,287.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Matt Newby sold 2,940 shares of Eagle Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $738,381.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 21,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,479,841.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over 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.

Eagle Materials Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of EXP stock opened at $244.62 on Thursday. Eagle Materials Inc. has a 1-year low of $143.23 and a 1-year high of $272.72. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $255.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $210.86. 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 firm has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.26 and a beta of 1.34.

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

Eagle Materials Dividend Announcement

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

Eagle Materials 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.