Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

GVA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Granite Construction in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $139.00 price objective (down from $141.00) on shares of Granite Construction in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Stephens initiated coverage on Granite Construction in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $180.00 price objective for the company. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Granite Construction has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $161.00.

Granite Construction Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of GVA opened at $122.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.26 and a beta of 1.29. 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 1 year low of $89.80 and a 1 year high of $162.08. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $139.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $130.35.

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

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Granite Construction

In other Granite Construction news, Director John Timothy Romer acquired 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were bought at an average price of $143.65 per share, with a total value of $53,868.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 2,801 shares in the company, valued at $402,363.65. This represents a 15.46% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 7,500 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $1,057,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 29,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,199,967. The trade was a 20.11% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Granite Construction

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GVA. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its position in Granite Construction by 512.8% during the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 239 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Granite Construction in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its position in Granite Construction by 30.9% in the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 381 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the 4th quarter valued at about $56,000.

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.