Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on GVA. DA Davidson raised their target price on Granite Construction from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Zacks Research cut shares of Granite Construction from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a report on Monday, November 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $109.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Granite Construction in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Granite Construction currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $119.50.

Granite Construction Stock Performance

NYSE:GVA opened at $108.33 on Friday. Granite Construction has a fifty-two week low of $69.08 and a fifty-two week high of $112.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.21. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $104.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.22 and a beta of 1.33.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The construction company reported $2.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.56 by $0.14. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 24.04% and a net margin of 4.31%.The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.05 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Granite Construction will post 5.49 EPS for the current year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.99%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Celeste Beeks Mastin sold 7,614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.23, for a total transaction of $801,221.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,073,977.38. The trade was a 42.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Granite Construction

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GVA. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the 3rd quarter worth about $213,000. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in Granite Construction during the third quarter worth approximately $512,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Granite Construction in the third quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Caxton Associates LLP increased its stake in Granite Construction by 21.5% in the third quarter. Caxton Associates LLP now owns 21,390 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,345,000 after purchasing an additional 3,788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PharVision Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Granite Construction in the third quarter valued at approximately $313,000.

About Granite Construction

Granite Construction Incorporated operates as an infrastructure contractor in the United States. It operates through two segments: Construction and Materials segments. The Construction segment engages in the construction and rehabilitation of roads, pavement preservation, bridges, rail lines, airports, marine ports, dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, infrastructure, and site development for use by the public and water-related construction for municipal agencies, commercial water suppliers, industrial facilities, and energy companies; and construction of various complex projects, including infrastructure/site development, mining, public safety, tunnel, solar storage, and power related projects.