Balfour Beatty (LON:BBY) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Balfour Beatty plc (LON:BBY) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as GBX 504 ($6.82) and last traded at GBX 497.10 ($6.73), with a volume of 38669 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 502 ($6.80).

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Berenberg Bank restated a “buy” rating and set a GBX 510 ($6.90) price target on shares of Balfour Beatty in a report on Monday, March 17th.

Balfour Beatty Trading Down 0.2%

The stock has a market cap of £2.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 79.85, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is GBX 450.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 449.89.

Balfour Beatty (LON:BBY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 12th. The company reported GBX 43.60 ($0.59) earnings per share for the quarter. Balfour Beatty had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 19.46%. Research analysts expect that Balfour Beatty plc will post 43.3100698 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Balfour Beatty Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a GBX 8.70 ($0.12) dividend. This represents a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This is a positive change from Balfour Beatty’s previous dividend of $3.80. Balfour Beatty’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.02%.

Balfour Beatty declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, March 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase 0 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Balfour Beatty

In other Balfour Beatty news, insider Philip Harrison sold 155,560 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 434 ($5.88), for a total value of £675,130.40 ($913,943.96). Company insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

About Balfour Beatty

Balfour Beatty is a leading international infrastructure group. With 26,000 employees across the UK, US and Hong Kong, we’re leading the transformation of our industry to meet the challenges of the future.

Trusted by our customers to deliver sustainable solutions and strengthen communities, we finance, develop, build, maintain and operate the increasingly complex and critical infrastructure that supports national economies and deliver projects at the heart of local communities.