James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX) Earns Outperform Rating from Analysts at Robert W. Baird

Analysts at Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX - Get Free Report) in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set an "outperform" rating and a $32.00 price target on the construction company's stock. Robert W. Baird's target price suggests a potential upside of 13.11% from the company's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on JHX. Raymond James Financial set a $55.00 price target on James Hardie Industries in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Macquarie cut James Hardie Industries from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. William Blair started coverage on James Hardie Industries in a research report on Friday, June 27th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut James Hardie Industries from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of James Hardie Industries from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $27.40 to $27.35 in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $37.34.

James Hardie Industries Price Performance

Shares of JHX opened at $28.29 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 2.10. James Hardie Industries has a one year low of $19.72 and a one year high of $43.57. The stock's fifty day moving average is $25.45 and its 200-day moving average is $27.87.

James Hardie Industries (NYSE:JHX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The construction company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.01). James Hardie Industries had a net margin of 10.94% and a return on equity of 31.52%. The business had revenue of $971.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $983.86 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.61 earnings per share. James Hardie Industries's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that James Hardie Industries will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of James Hardie Industries by 10.3% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 10,694 shares of the construction company's stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 999 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in James Hardie Industries by 222.4% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 279,009 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $6,573,000 after acquiring an additional 192,478 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in James Hardie Industries by 160.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,697,663 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $63,557,000 after acquiring an additional 1,662,743 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in James Hardie Industries by 5,001.3% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 997,875 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $23,510,000 after acquiring an additional 978,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ionic Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in James Hardie Industries in the first quarter valued at about $377,000. 7.96% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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