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

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

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Zacks Research raised 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 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Granite Construction from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a research report on Friday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $180.00 target price on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $157.25.

Granite Construction Stock Up 2.4%

Granite Construction stock opened at $160.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.24 and a beta of 1.32. 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 fifty-two week low of $89.80 and a fifty-two week high of $162.08. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $137.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $127.90.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $912.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.26 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.01 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Granite Construction will post 6.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John Timothy Romer bought 375 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $143.65 per share, with a total value of $53,868.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,801 shares in the company, valued at $402,363.65. This trade represents a 15.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Bradley Jay Williams sold 6,734 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $949,494.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 7,041 shares in the company, valued at $992,781. This represents a 48.89% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Granite Construction

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 569.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 1,339,818 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $151,064,000 after buying an additional 1,139,818 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Granite Construction by 52.8% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,397,573 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $167,541,000 after acquiring an additional 483,080 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 254.5% during 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 during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the fourth quarter valued at $36,405,000.

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.