James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) Raised to “Buy” at Bank of America

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) was upgraded by analysts at Bank of America from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a $27.35 price objective on the construction company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $27.40. Bank of America‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 12.83% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on JHX. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Macquarie lowered shares of James Hardie Industries from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note 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. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of James Hardie Industries in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on James Hardie Industries in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, James Hardie Industries presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.45.

James Hardie Industries Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:JHX opened at $24.24 on Thursday. James Hardie Industries has a 12 month low of $23.23 and a 12 month 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. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $31.61 and its 200 day moving average is $33.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.42 billion, a PE ratio of 24.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 1.84.

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The construction company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that James Hardie Industries will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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