CRH plc (NYSE:CRH) Short Interest Update

CRH plc (NYSE:CRH) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,930,000 shares, an increase of 8.8% from the August 31st total of 10,050,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 5,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CRH

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRH. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in CRH by 336.4% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 336 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. First Financial Corp IN bought a new stake in CRH in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. NBC Securities Inc. raised its stake in CRH by 71.5% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 415 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in CRH in the second quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in CRH in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 62.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of CRH from $109.00 to $99.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of CRH from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Stephens initiated coverage on CRH in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $95.00 price objective on the stock. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on CRH from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded CRH from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $87.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.70.

CRH Trading Down 2.0 %

CRH stock traded down $1.89 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $90.85. The company had a trading volume of 3,314,905 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,085,311. The stock has a market cap of $62.38 billion, a PE ratio of 15.19, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.30. The business has a 50-day moving average of $86.22 and a 200-day moving average of $82.22. CRH has a one year low of $51.59 and a one year high of $94.14.

CRH (NYSE:CRH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The construction company reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.85. The firm had revenue of $9.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.16 billion. Research analysts forecast that CRH will post 5.44 EPS for the current year.

CRH Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a dividend yield of 1.7%. CRH’s payout ratio is 29.77%.

CRH Company Profile

CRH plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides building materials solutions in Ireland and internationally. It operates through four segments: Americas Materials Solutions, Americas Building Solutions, Europe Materials Solutions, and Europe Building Solutions. The company provides solutions for the construction and maintenance of public infrastructure and commercial and residential buildings; and produces and sells aggregates, cement, readymixed concrete, and asphalt, as well as provides paving and construction services.