Morningstar Investment Management LLC Invests $584,000 in Crh Plc $CRH

Morningstar Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Crh Plc (NYSE:CRH) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 6,363 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $584,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Park Place Capital Corp raised its position in CRH by 59.9% in the second quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 307 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in CRH by 86.7% in the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 448 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the period. Ransom Advisory Ltd purchased a new stake in CRH in the 1st quarter valued at about $47,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in CRH by 29.4% in the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 678 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its stake in shares of CRH by 44.6% in the 1st quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 730 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CRH. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 price target (down from $120.00) on shares of CRH in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $134.00 target price on CRH in a research report on Thursday. Vertical Research upgraded CRH to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CRH in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group set a $138.00 price objective on CRH and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $126.21.

CRH Stock Performance

CRH stock opened at $117.71 on Tuesday. Crh Plc has a fifty-two week low of $76.75 and a fifty-two week high of $121.88. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $112.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.32.

CRH (NYSE:CRH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The construction company reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $10.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.27 billion. CRH had a net margin of 9.09% and a return on equity of 15.68%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Crh Plc will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CRH Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were issued a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. CRH’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.22%.

CRH Profile

CRH plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides building materials solutions in Ireland and internationally. It operates through four segments: Americas Materials Solutions, Americas Building Solutions, Europe Materials Solutions, and Europe Building Solutions. The company provides solutions for the construction and maintenance of public infrastructure and commercial and residential buildings; and produces and sells aggregates, cement, readymixed concrete, and asphalt, as well as provides paving and construction services.