Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $149.6667.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GVA. Wall Street Zen downgraded Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. Zacks Research upgraded Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Oppenheimer began coverage on Granite Construction in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 target price for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Granite Construction from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday.

Insider Transactions at Granite Construction

In related news, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,057,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 29,787 shares in the company, valued at $4,199,967. The trade was a 20.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 26,651 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total value of $3,148,016.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 114,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,569,743.72. The trade was a 18.83% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 40,885 shares of company stock worth $5,155,010. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its position in shares of Granite Construction by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 6,378 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $736,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in Granite Construction by 30.9% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 381 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Granite Construction by 4.5% during the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 2,813 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Granite Construction by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,978 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $575,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in Granite Construction by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 22,224 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,563,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter.

Granite Construction Price Performance

GVA stock opened at $146.44 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Granite Construction has a one year low of $88.26 and a one year high of $148.00. The stock has a market cap of $6.41 billion, a PE ratio of 42.20 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $134.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $126.40.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.77) by $1.03. Granite Construction had a net margin of 3.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The business had revenue of $912.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.01 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Granite Construction will post 6.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is presently 14.99%.

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.