Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Grows Position in Crh Plc $CRH

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in Crh Plc (NYSE:CRH) by 21.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 63,971 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,213 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in CRH were worth $6,725,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in CRH by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,117,664 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $9,873,884,000 after buying an additional 14,623,673 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of CRH by 81.3% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,895,205 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,106,927,000 after acquiring an additional 11,167,189 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of CRH by 67.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,709,575 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,827,252,000 after acquiring an additional 5,916,930 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of CRH by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 12,439,954 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,552,506,000 after acquiring an additional 78,769 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CRH during the 4th quarter valued at $1,476,939,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded CRH from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on CRH from $135.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of CRH in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on CRH from $149.00 to $165.60 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $139.00 price target on shares of CRH in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CRH has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $141.19.

CRH Price Performance

CRH stock opened at $102.96 on Friday. Crh Plc has a 12-month low of $92.66 and a 12-month high of $131.55. The company has a market capitalization of $68.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $106.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $113.25.

CRH (NYSE:CRH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by $0.02. CRH had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 15.37%. The company had revenue of $7.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.07 billion. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. CRH has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.600-6.050 EPS. Analysts forecast that Crh Plc will post 5.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CRH Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 15th. CRH’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.89%.

About CRH

CRH plc, originally formed as Cement Roadstone Holdings in 1970 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is a global building materials group. The company has grown from its Irish roots into one of the largest international suppliers of construction materials, expanding primarily through acquisitions and regional business development. CRH operates an integrated network of manufacturing and distribution businesses that serve both public and private construction markets.

CRH’s core activities include the production and distribution of aggregates, cement, asphalt, ready-mixed concrete and other bulk materials, together with a broad range of value-added building products such as precast concrete, masonry, bricks, roofing products, pipe and drainage systems, and construction accessories.