James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded James Hardie Industries from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Macquarie raised James Hardie Industries from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st.

James Hardie Industries Stock Performance

Shares of JHX stock opened at $37.57 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.79. James Hardie Industries has a fifty-two week low of $24.28 and a fifty-two week high of $41.98. The company has a market capitalization of $16.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.39, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.71. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $33.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.40.

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The construction company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.03. James Hardie Industries had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 38.97%. The business had revenue of $991.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that James Hardie Industries will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On James Hardie Industries

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of JHX. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in James Hardie Industries by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,002,215 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $38,756,000 after buying an additional 11,235 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of James Hardie Industries in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $12,162,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of James Hardie Industries by 186.0% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 335,239 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $13,564,000 after purchasing an additional 218,033 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of James Hardie Industries by 39.7% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 313,931 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $12,697,000 after purchasing an additional 89,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in James Hardie Industries by 0.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 70,496 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,223,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.96% of the company’s stock.

James Hardie Industries Company Profile

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.