Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) Share Price Breaks Above 50-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE:EXP) crossed above its 50 day moving average during trading on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $180.62 and traded as high as $183.93. Eagle Materials shares last traded at $181.7130, with a volume of 500,836 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Eagle Materials from $219.00 to $170.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Eagle Materials from $232.00 to $207.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Eagle Materials in a research note on Friday, September 11th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Eagle Materials from $220.00 to $207.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Eagle Materials from $196.00 to $188.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $195.22.

Eagle Materials Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 3.23 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $180.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $203.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.36 and a beta of 1.33.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The construction company reported $3.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.37 by ($0.08). Eagle Materials had a return on equity of 26.87% and a net margin of 17.32%. The company had revenue of $650.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $620.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.76 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Eagle Materials Inc will post 11.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Eagle Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 14th. Eagle Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.91%.

Insider Activity at Eagle Materials

In other news, SVP Tony Thompson sold 3,074 shares of Eagle Materials stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.96, for a total value of $626,973.04. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 10,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,562.32. This trade represents a 23.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Eagle Materials

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EXP. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Eagle Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at about $688,486,000. W1M Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Eagle Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $155,199,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Eagle Materials by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 627,427 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $118,846,000 after buying an additional 16,782 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Eagle Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $129,760,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Eagle Materials during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $66,255,000. 96.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Eagle Materials Company Profile

Eagle Materials Inc (NYSE: EXP) is a U.S.-based manufacturer of building materials used in residential, commercial, infrastructure and industrial construction. The company’s principal products include cement, gypsum wallboard, concrete and aggregates.

Its cement business produces and distributes Portland cement and related cement products, while its gypsum wallboard business supplies panels used in interior construction. Eagle Materials also provides ready-mixed concrete and construction aggregates, including crushed stone, sand and gravel, for building and infrastructure projects.

The company traces its history to Centex Construction Products, which was spun off from Centex Corporation in 1994 and later adopted the Eagle Materials name.