Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Acquires New Position in Crh Plc $CRH

Key Points

• Rakuten Investment Management acquired a new 119,600-share position in CRH during the third quarter, worth approximately $10.1 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 62.5% of the company’s stock.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: 19 analysts rate CRH a Buy and one a Hold, with an average price target of $125.61. The company’s latest quarterly earnings per share of $2.09 topped estimates, while revenue of $11.4 billion fell short of expectations.
• CRH declared a quarterly dividend of $0.39 per share, equivalent to an annualized $1.56 and a 1.6% yield.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Crh Plc (NYSE:CRH - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 119,600 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $10,110,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Amundi raised its position in shares of CRH by 74.7% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 5,965,814 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $627,126,000 after acquiring an additional 2,550,178 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of CRH by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,928,489 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $623,203,000 after purchasing an additional 216,822 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of CRH by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,831,618 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $507,784,000 after purchasing an additional 297,309 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CRH by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,336,754 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $245,460,000 after purchasing an additional 93,106 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of CRH by 27.9% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,186,541 shares of the construction company's stock worth $228,994,000 after purchasing an additional 477,242 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CRH shares. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on CRH from $117.00 to $114.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Berenberg Bank set a $140.00 price objective on CRH in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of CRH in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on CRH in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $118.00 target price on CRH in a report on Friday, October 9th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $125.61.

CRH Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CRH opened at $95.37 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $87.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.68. The company has a market capitalization of $63.45 billion, a PE ratio of 17.89, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.33. Crh Plc has a 52 week low of $78.62 and a 52 week high of $131.55.

CRH (NYSE:CRH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The construction company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. CRH had a net margin of 9.19% and a return on equity of 15.03%. The company had revenue of $11.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Crh Plc will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current year.

CRH Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 9th. Investors of record on Friday, November 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 13th. CRH's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CRH news, Director Siobhan Talbot bought 2,000 shares of CRH stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $94.63 per share, for a total transaction of $189,260.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 10,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $994,277.41. The trade was a 23.51% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

CRH Profile

CRH plc is a global building materials company that supplies products and solutions used in residential, commercial and infrastructure construction. Its activities include the production and distribution of aggregates, asphalt, ready-mixed concrete, cement and other construction materials, as well as value-added products such as precast concrete, architectural products and site-development solutions.

The company serves customers across North America and Europe, including contractors, construction companies, infrastructure developers, distributors and public-sector organizations.

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