Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Grows Position in James Hardie Industries PLC. $JHX

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in James Hardie Industries PLC. (NYSE:JHX) by 241.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,718,075 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 8,988,938 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in James Hardie Industries were worth $341,989,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of James Hardie Industries by 70.4% during the second quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,101 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in James Hardie Industries by 641.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,223 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of James Hardie Industries in the first quarter valued at about $57,000. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in shares of James Hardie Industries in the second quarter worth about $68,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of James Hardie Industries by 12.1% during the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,683 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. 7.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on JHX shares. CLSA upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of James Hardie Industries in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of James Hardie Industries from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Macquarie raised shares of James Hardie Industries from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.91.

James Hardie Industries Stock Performance

JHX opened at $16.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 3.76 and a quick ratio of 3.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $20.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.42. James Hardie Industries PLC. has a 1 year low of $16.46 and a 1 year high of $37.65. The stock has a market cap of $7.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.72, a P/E/G ratio of 14.34 and a beta of 1.82.

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 19th. The construction company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $899.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $982.60 million. James Hardie Industries had a net margin of 8.75% and a return on equity of 27.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that James Hardie Industries PLC. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

About James Hardie Industries

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.