Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (NASDAQ:GLDD) Rating Increased to Hold at Zacks Research

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (NASDAQ:GLDD) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on GLDD. Texas Capital cut shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock in a research note on Wednesday. Noble Financial lowered Great Lakes Dredge & Dock from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.00.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Stock Performance

Shares of GLDD stock opened at $16.93 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $15.28 and a 200-day moving average of $13.24. The company 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 company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock has a 52 week low of $7.51 and a 52 week high of $16.99.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (NASDAQ:GLDD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The construction company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.10. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock had a net margin of 8.27% and a return on equity of 16.46%. The business had revenue of $256.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $216.30 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Great Lakes Dredge & Dock will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP David Johanson sold 2,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.96, for a total transaction of $29,316.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 91,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,283,803.48. The trade was a 2.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Great Lakes Dredge & Dock

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GLDD. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 35,035 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 3,169 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Great Lakes Dredge & Dock during the first quarter worth about $304,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in Great Lakes Dredge & Dock by 4.4% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 39,190 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $341,000 after acquiring an additional 1,653 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in Great Lakes Dredge & Dock in the first quarter valued at about $1,726,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of Great Lakes Dredge & Dock by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 246,766 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,147,000 after acquiring an additional 3,042 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.