James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

Separately, Bank of America cut shares of James Hardie Industries from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $35.50 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd.

James Hardie Industries Price Performance

NYSE:JHX opened at $34.28 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $38.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.65. James Hardie Industries has a 1-year low of $21.76 and a 1-year high of $41.98. The firm has a market cap of $14.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.69.

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 12th. The construction company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $978.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $960.23 million. James Hardie Industries had a return on equity of 38.75% and a net margin of 13.93%. James Hardie Industries’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that James Hardie Industries will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On James Hardie Industries

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of James Hardie Industries by 357.7% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 30,101 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $790,000 after acquiring an additional 23,524 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in James Hardie Industries by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 12,124 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $469,000 after purchasing an additional 623 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of James Hardie Industries by 754.0% during the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 116,574 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,055,000 after buying an additional 102,923 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of James Hardie Industries in the fourth quarter valued at about $305,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of James Hardie Industries by 3.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 119,208 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,128,000 after buying an additional 3,934 shares in the last quarter. 7.96% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About James Hardie Industries

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.