James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) Stock Rating Upgraded by Morgan Stanley

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) was upgraded by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on JHX. StockNews.com upgraded James Hardie Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial assumed coverage on James Hardie Industries in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of James Hardie Industries in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Macquarie cut shares of James Hardie Industries from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, James Hardie Industries presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.00.

James Hardie Industries Stock Performance

NYSE:JHX opened at $23.75 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.82. The stock has a market cap of $10.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.52, a PEG ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 1.84. James Hardie Industries has a 1-year low of $23.31 and a 1-year high of $43.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The construction company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $953.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $967.63 million. James Hardie Industries had a return on equity of 33.65% and a net margin of 11.15%. Research analysts anticipate that James Hardie Industries will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in James Hardie Industries by 63.6% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 8,694 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 3,381 shares during the period. GTS Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of James Hardie Industries in the 4th quarter worth about $401,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of James Hardie Industries by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 63,915 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,969,000 after purchasing an additional 5,339 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of James Hardie Industries by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 19,561 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $603,000 after purchasing an additional 2,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in James Hardie Industries by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 964,583 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $29,718,000 after purchasing an additional 161,059 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.