James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) Sees Large Volume Increase – Time to Buy?

James Hardie Industries plc (NYSE:JHX) saw strong trading volume on Monday . 408,989 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 85% from the previous session’s volume of 221,279 shares.The stock last traded at $23.61 and had previously closed at $24.25.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $27.40 to $27.35 in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of James Hardie Industries in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. StockNews.com upgraded James Hardie Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Macquarie downgraded shares of James Hardie Industries from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.45.

James Hardie Industries Trading Down 2.0 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $9.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.86, a P/E/G ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 1.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a current ratio of 2.18. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $31.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.39.

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

Institutional Trading of James Hardie Industries

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in James Hardie Industries by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 972 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of James Hardie Industries by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 52,416 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,615,000 after buying an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in James Hardie Industries by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 18,074 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $616,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of James Hardie Industries by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 5,220 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $161,000 after purchasing an additional 453 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.