Capstone Investment Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 62,723 CRH plc (NYSE:CRH)

Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CRH plc (NYSE:CRH - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 62,723 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $5,803,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC raised its stake in CRH by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,843,362 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $3,781,004,000 after buying an additional 4,687,345 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in CRH by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 39,163,930 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $3,624,719,000 after acquiring an additional 145,101 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in CRH by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,788,918 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,553,194,000 after purchasing an additional 2,437,868 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CRH during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,391,245,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of CRH by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,609,451 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $796,546,000 after purchasing an additional 826,758 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CRH has been the subject of several recent research reports. Loop Capital initiated coverage on shares of CRH in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set a "buy" rating and a $114.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of CRH from $127.00 to $108.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com raised CRH from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of CRH in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Berenberg Bank set a $120.00 price objective on CRH in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CRH has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $112.36.

CRH Stock Performance

CRH traded up $0.76 during trading on Friday, reaching $94.70. 3,783,352 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,822,798. The company has a market cap of $63.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.94, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.33. CRH plc has a 12-month low of $71.18 and a 12-month high of $110.97. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $96.17.

CRH (NYSE:CRH - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The construction company reported ($0.12) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $6.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.77 billion. CRH had a net margin of 9.86% and a return on equity of 16.35%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CRH plc will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CRH Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. CRH's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.52%.

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.