James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday.

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th.

James Hardie Industries Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JHX opened at $35.35 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. James Hardie Industries has a 52 week low of $29.88 and a 52 week high of $43.57.

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The construction company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $960.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $973.49 million. James Hardie Industries had a net margin of 11.16% and a return on equity of 35.93%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that James Hardie Industries will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On James Hardie Industries

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in James Hardie Industries by 2.6% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,494 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $502,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in James Hardie Industries by 4.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,551 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in James Hardie Industries by 55.7% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,045 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in James Hardie Industries by 1.2% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 32,630 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,029,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in James Hardie Industries by 46.3% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,365 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. 7.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.