Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

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

Granite Construction Stock Performance

Granite Construction stock opened at $134.43 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $124.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.23. Granite Construction has a 1-year low of $69.08 and a 1-year high of $137.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market cap of $5.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.73 and a beta of 1.34.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The construction company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Granite Construction had a net margin of 4.36% and a return on equity of 24.10%. The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.23 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Granite Construction will post 5.49 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP lifted its holdings in Granite Construction by 569.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 1,339,818 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $151,064,000 after buying an additional 1,139,818 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its position in shares of Granite Construction by 262.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 647,589 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $74,699,000 after acquiring an additional 469,079 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 254.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 503,906 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $58,126,000 after acquiring an additional 361,741 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the fourth quarter valued at $36,405,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its holdings in Granite Construction by 87.5% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 556,054 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $60,971,000 after purchasing an additional 259,477 shares during the period.

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.