Wall Street Zen Upgrades Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) to Buy

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Granite Construction from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Granite Construction from $109.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Granite Construction in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $139.50.

Granite Construction Trading Down 1.2%

GVA stock opened at $134.43 on Friday. Granite Construction has a one year low of $69.08 and a one year high of $137.24. The stock has a market cap of $5.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.73 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $124.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $113.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The construction company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Granite Construction had a net margin of 4.36% and a return on equity of 24.10%. The company’s revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.23 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Granite Construction will post 5.49 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Granite Construction

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 512.8% during the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 239 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Granite Construction during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Granite Construction during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in Granite Construction in the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,000.

About Granite Construction

Granite Construction Inc is a publicly traded heavy civil contractor and construction materials producer based in Watsonville, California. The company specializes in delivering large-scale infrastructure projects for government and private clients, focusing on the development, rehabilitation and maintenance of transportation, water resource and industrial facilities. Its turnkey solutions span the full project lifecycle, from preconstruction and design-build to construction management and facilities maintenance.

In its construction segment, Granite undertakes highway and bridge building, airport runway and taxiway construction, marine terminal and port improvements, dam and reservoir projects, transit systems and underground utilities.