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

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Granite Construction in a research report on Monday, December 1st. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Granite Construction from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Granite Construction in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $109.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $119.50.

Granite Construction Price Performance

NYSE:GVA opened at $108.05 on Friday. Granite Construction has a 12-month low of $69.08 and a 12-month high of $112.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.14 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $104.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The construction company reported $2.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.56 by $0.14. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 24.04% and a net margin of 4.31%.The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.05 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Granite Construction will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Granite Construction news, Director Celeste Beeks Mastin sold 7,614 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.23, for a total value of $801,221.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,073,977.38. The trade was a 42.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in Granite Construction during the third quarter worth about $213,000. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $512,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $77,000. Caxton Associates LLP boosted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 21.5% during the 3rd quarter. Caxton Associates LLP now owns 21,390 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,345,000 after acquiring an additional 3,788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PharVision Advisers LLC bought a new position in Granite Construction in the third quarter valued at approximately $313,000.

About Granite Construction

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.