Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (NASDAQ:GLDD) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation (NASDAQ:GLDD)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $16.22 and last traded at $16.4920, with a volume of 56929 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $14.80.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GLDD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research downgraded Great Lakes Dredge & Dock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Great Lakes Dredge & Dock in a report on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, CJS Securities upgraded Great Lakes Dredge & Dock to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.00.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Stock Up 8.4%

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (NASDAQ:GLDD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The construction company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $195.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $201.30 million. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 16.84%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP David Johanson sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.02, for a total transaction of $130,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 94,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,224,700.26. This represents a 9.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MAI Capital Management increased its position in Great Lakes Dredge & Dock by 79.2% in the 3rd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 2,161 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 955 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming boosted its position in Great Lakes Dredge & Dock by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 36,148 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 1,142 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,175 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $230,000 after buying an additional 1,443 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock by 0.8% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 188,570 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,261,000 after acquiring an additional 1,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock by 43.5% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 4,965 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 1,505 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.11% of the company’s stock.

About Great Lakes Dredge & Dock

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation (NASDAQ: GLDD) is a leading provider of dredging and maritime construction services in the United States. The company specializes in the excavation and removal of sediment from waterways, harbors, ports and coastal areas to maintain navigability and support commercial shipping. Its operations encompass both maintenance dredging—removing accumulated material to restore channel depth—and new work projects such as land reclamation and harbor deepening.

In addition to traditional dredging, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock offers a range of complementary marine construction services.