Eagle Materials Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.25 (NYSE:EXP)

Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the construction company on Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%.

Eagle Materials has increased its dividend payment by an average of 10.1% annually over the last three years. Eagle Materials has a payout ratio of 5.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Eagle Materials to earn $16.57 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.0%.

Eagle Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EXP traded up $3.92 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $259.28. The company had a trading volume of 385,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 312,158. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $261.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $270.51. The stock has a market cap of $8.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.52 and a beta of 1.37. Eagle Materials has a 1 year low of $211.44 and a 1 year high of $321.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The construction company reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.97 by ($0.38). Eagle Materials had a return on equity of 34.14% and a net margin of 20.91%. On average, analysts forecast that Eagle Materials will post 14.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EXP. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Eagle Materials from $277.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Eagle Materials from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Eagle Materials from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Citigroup cut shares of Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $334.00 to $280.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $330.00 to $310.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.80.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Richard Ross Stewart sold 3,577 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.30, for a total transaction of $1,074,173.10. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $330,330. The trade was a 76.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Haack sold 11,888 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.50, for a total transaction of $3,691,224.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,811 shares in the company, valued at $26,644,315.50. The trade was a 12.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

About Eagle Materials

Eagle Materials Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells heavy construction materials and light building materials in the United States. It operates in four segments: Cement, Concrete and Aggregates, Gypsum Wallboard, and Recycled Paperboard. The company engages in the mining of limestone for the manufacture, production, distribution, and sale of Portland cement, including Portland limestone cement; grinding and sale of slag; and mining of gypsum for the manufacture and sale of gypsum wallboards used to finish the interior walls and ceilings in residential, commercial, and industrial structures, as well as well as containerboard and lightweight packaging grades; manufacture and sale of recycled paperboard to the gypsum wallboard industry and other paperboard converters; the sale of readymix concrete; and mining and sale of aggregates, such as crushed stone, sand, and gravel.