James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Vertical Research began coverage on shares of James Hardie Industries in a research report on Monday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of James Hardie Industries in a research report on Friday, August 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. Baird R W upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Macquarie upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, CLSA upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, James Hardie Industries has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.39.

James Hardie Industries Trading Down 1.7%

James Hardie Industries stock opened at $21.48 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 3.31 and a current ratio of 3.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.89, a PEG ratio of 14.66 and a beta of 1.79. James Hardie Industries has a 52 week low of $17.85 and a 52 week high of $37.65.

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 19th. The construction company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $899.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $982.60 million. James Hardie Industries had a return on equity of 27.95% and a net margin of 8.75%.The company’s revenue was down 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. Analysts expect that James Hardie Industries will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of James Hardie Industries by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 10,694 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 999 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of James Hardie Industries by 473.5% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 72,316 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,704,000 after buying an additional 59,706 shares in the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of James Hardie Industries by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 15,002 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $364,000 after buying an additional 1,452 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of James Hardie Industries by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 55,944 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,318,000 after buying an additional 3,838 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of James Hardie Industries by 21.4% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 110,133 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,595,000 after buying an additional 19,392 shares in the last quarter. 7.96% of the stock is owned by 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.