Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Rating Lowered to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

GVA has been the subject of several other reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. DA Davidson raised their target price on Granite Construction from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Granite Construction in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.00.

Granite Construction Stock Performance

Shares of GVA opened at $102.90 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.63 and a beta of 1.42. The company’s fifty day moving average is $106.07 and its 200-day moving average is $98.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Granite Construction has a 12 month low of $69.08 and a 12 month high of $112.16.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The construction company reported $2.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.56 by $0.14. Granite Construction had a net margin of 3.89% and a return on equity of 21.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.05 earnings per share. Granite Construction’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Granite Construction has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts expect that Granite Construction will post 5.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total value of $220,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 29,241 shares in the company, valued at $3,216,510. This represents a 6.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brian R. Dowd sold 2,025 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.16, for a total transaction of $223,074.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 14,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,617,699.60. The trade was a 12.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 5,525 shares of company stock valued at $608,314 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Granite Construction

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL acquired a new stake in Granite Construction in the third quarter valued at $574,000. Glenmede Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the 3rd quarter valued at about $206,000. Jump Financial LLC lifted its stake in Granite Construction by 2,760.5% in the 3rd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 68,394 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $7,499,000 after purchasing an additional 66,003 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. bought a new position in Granite Construction during the third quarter worth about $220,000. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P bought a new stake in Granite Construction in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,010,000.

Granite Construction Company Profile

Granite Construction Incorporated operates as an infrastructure contractor in the United States. It operates through two segments: Construction and Materials segments. The Construction segment engages in the construction and rehabilitation of roads, pavement preservation, bridges, rail lines, airports, marine ports, dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, infrastructure, and site development for use by the public and water-related construction for municipal agencies, commercial water suppliers, industrial facilities, and energy companies; and construction of various complex projects, including infrastructure/site development, mining, public safety, tunnel, solar storage, and power related projects.