Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (NASDAQ:GLDD) Hits New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation (NASDAQ:GLDD)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a strong sell rating to a hold rating. The company traded as high as $16.99 and last traded at $16.99, with a volume of 3870 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $16.98.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. CJS Securities upgraded shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Noble Financial downgraded shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 24th. Texas Capital downgraded shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP David Johanson sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.96, for a total transaction of $29,316.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 91,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,283,803.48. This trade represents a 2.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Great Lakes Dredge & Dock

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Great Lakes Dredge & Dock by 0.8% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,323,251 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $51,835,000 after buying an additional 35,044 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Great Lakes Dredge & Dock by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,987,334 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $52,314,000 after acquiring an additional 108,033 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,412,467 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $28,925,000 after purchasing an additional 231,558 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,656,547 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $20,195,000 after purchasing an additional 51,269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock by 39.4% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,597,481 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $20,959,000 after purchasing an additional 451,346 shares in the last quarter. 89.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $15.28 and its 200-day moving average is $13.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (NASDAQ:GLDD) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The construction company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.10. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock had a return on equity of 16.46% and a net margin of 8.27%.The company had revenue of $256.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $216.30 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.