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

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

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. DA Davidson upped their price target on Granite Construction from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Granite Construction in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Granite Construction from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.50.

Granite Construction Price Performance

Shares of Granite Construction stock opened at $104.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.45. The company has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a PE ratio of 34.22 and a beta of 1.42. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $105.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $99.50. Granite Construction has a fifty-two week low of $69.08 and a fifty-two week high of $112.16.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The construction company reported $2.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.56 by $0.14. Granite Construction had a net margin of 3.89% and a return on equity of 21.64%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.05 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Granite Construction has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts expect that Granite Construction will post 5.49 EPS 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.99%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Louis E. Caldera sold 1,500 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.16, for a total transaction of $165,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,601 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,167,806.16. This trade represents a 12.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Celeste Beeks Mastin sold 7,614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.23, for a total transaction of $801,221.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,073,977.38. This trade represents a 42.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,139 shares of company stock worth $1,189,535. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new position in Granite Construction in the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 94.6% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 436 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 26.5% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 674 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 1,417.6% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 516 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter.

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.