Short Interest in James Hardie Industries plc (NYSE:JHX) Increases By 19,173.5%

James Hardie Industries plc (NYSE:JHX) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,020,000 shares, an increase of 19,173.5% from the March 15th total of 46,800 shares. Approximately 2.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,200,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on JHX. Truist Financial set a $45.00 price objective on shares of James Hardie Industries in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of James Hardie Industries in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com upgraded James Hardie Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America raised James Hardie Industries from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $27.40 to $27.35 in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised James Hardie Industries from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.45.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in James Hardie Industries by 45.3% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 972 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of James Hardie Industries by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,551 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $315,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in James Hardie Industries by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 52,416 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,615,000 after buying an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in James Hardie Industries by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 18,074 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $616,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in James Hardie Industries by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 5,220 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $161,000 after buying an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.96% of the company’s stock.

James Hardie Industries Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of James Hardie Industries stock opened at $21.85 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $28.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.09. The stock has a market cap of $9.39 billion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.16 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. James Hardie Industries has a 12-month low of $19.72 and a 12-month high of $43.57.

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

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.