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

Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP) declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%.

Eagle Materials has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.1% annually over the last three years. Eagle Materials has a dividend payout ratio of 5.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Up 1.5 %

NYSE EXP opened at $259.28 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.63 billion, a price-to-earnings 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. The company has a 50 day moving average of $260.47 and a 200-day moving average of $270.44.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Eagle Materials news, Director Richard Ross Stewart sold 3,577 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $330,330. This trade represents a 76.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael Haack sold 11,888 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.50, for a total transaction of $3,691,224.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,644,315.50. This trade represents a 12.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup lowered Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $334.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on Eagle Materials from $265.00 to $260.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Eagle Materials from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Eagle Materials from $277.00 to $317.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Eagle Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $330.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $296.80.

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.