James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) Shares Gap Up After Strong Earnings

James Hardie Industries PLC. (NYSE:JHX) shares gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $16.69, but opened at $18.30. James Hardie Industries shares last traded at $17.7870, with a volume of 1,438,296 shares trading hands.

The construction company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.30 billion. James Hardie Industries had a net margin of 8.75% and a return on equity of 27.95%. James Hardie Industries’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on JHX. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on James Hardie Industries from $32.00 to $25.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Macquarie upgraded James Hardie Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Oppenheimer set a $28.00 price objective on shares of James Hardie Industries and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of James Hardie Industries in a report on Thursday, August 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, James Hardie Industries presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.91.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of James Hardie Industries by 259.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 50,649,731 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $972,981,000 after acquiring an additional 36,567,726 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in James Hardie Industries by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 13,600,870 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $261,273,000 after purchasing an additional 882,795 shares in the last quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. bought a new position in James Hardie Industries in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $105,839,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in James Hardie Industries by 59,775.3% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 5,325,912 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $125,478,000 after buying an additional 5,317,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its stake in shares of James Hardie Industries by 100.9% during the third quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 4,531,761 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $87,055,000 after buying an additional 2,275,762 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 7.96% of the company’s stock.

James Hardie Industries Stock Up 7.1%

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $19.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.32. The company has a market capitalization of $7.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.22, a P/E/G ratio of 14.34 and a beta of 1.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 3.76 and a quick ratio of 3.31.

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.