Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Receives $161.00 Average PT from Brokerages

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $161.00.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Stephens started coverage on Granite Construction in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer started coverage on Granite Construction in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Granite Construction from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,057,500.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Bradley Jay Williams sold 6,734 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $949,494.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $992,781. The trade was a 48.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,602,382 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $175,701,000 after purchasing an additional 131,360 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake 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 worth $167,541,000 after purchasing an additional 483,080 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Granite Construction by 0.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,067,545 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $127,969,000 after purchasing an additional 4,327 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its holdings in Granite Construction by 12.4% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 861,770 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $94,493,000 after purchasing an additional 94,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cartenna Capital LP lifted its position in Granite Construction by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Cartenna Capital LP now owns 715,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $82,475,000 after buying an additional 105,000 shares during the period.

Granite Construction Price Performance

Shares of Granite Construction stock opened at $124.80 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.46 billion, a PE ratio of 35.96 and a beta of 1.29. Granite Construction has a 12-month low of $89.80 and a 12-month high of $162.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $138.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $130.41.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.77) by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $912.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.26 million. Granite Construction had a net margin of 3.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.01 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Granite Construction will post 6.14 EPS for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is presently 14.99%.

Granite Construction Company Profile

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.