The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company decreased its stake in CRH plc (NYSE:CRH) by 18.8% during the fourth quarter, as revealed in its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Following this reduction, the firm held 911,104 shares of the construction company’s stock, representing about 0.13% of CRH’s total shares worth $84,316,000.
Other institutional investors have also adjusted their positions in CRH. FMR LLC increased its stake by 13.0% during the same period, now owning 40,843,362 shares valued at $3,781,004,000. Vanguard Group Inc. slightly increased its holdings by 0.4%, bringing its total to 39,163,930 shares worth $3,624,719,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its CRH holdings by 17.0%, now owning 16,788,918 shares valued at $1,553,194,000. Norges Bank established a new position in CRH, with its stake valued at $1,391,245,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position by 10.6%, now holding 8,609,451 shares worth $796,546,000.
Institutional investors collectively own 62.50% of CRH’s stock. On Wednesday, CRH’s stock opened at $93.44, with a market capitalization of $63.19 billion. The company has a twelve-month low of $71.18 and a high of $110.97. CRH recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.37 per share, paid on April 16th, representing an annualized dividend of $1.48 and a yield of 1.58%.
Analysts have been adjusting their ratings for CRH. StockNews.com upgraded CRH to a ‘buy’ rating on February 27th. Berenberg Bank set a $120.00 target price on February 28th. Citigroup maintained a ‘buy’ rating with a $115.00 target price. Royal Bank of Canada set an ‘outperform’ rating with a $108.00 target price. JPMorgan Chase & Co. maintained an ‘overweight’ rating with a $114.00 target price. Currently, CRH has a consensus ‘Buy’ rating and a consensus target price of $112.36 among analysts.
