Zacks Research Upgrades Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) to Hold

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

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Granite Construction from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Granite Construction in a research note on Monday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Granite Construction in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $109.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $119.50.

Granite Construction Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:GVA traded down $1.67 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $122.09. 110,125 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 646,535. Granite Construction has a 1 year low of $69.08 and a 1 year high of $124.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $111.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.01. The firm has a market cap of $5.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.20 and a beta of 1.32.

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

Insider Transactions at Granite Construction

In other Granite Construction news, Director Celeste Beeks Mastin sold 7,614 shares of the company’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 transaction, the director directly owned 10,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,073,977.38. This represents a 42.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Granite Construction

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new position in Granite Construction during the 2nd quarter valued at about $301,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 4.0% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,221,031 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $114,179,000 after purchasing an additional 46,552 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Granite Construction by 0.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,037,916 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $97,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,979 shares during the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 34.6% in the 2nd quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 34,210 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,199,000 after buying an additional 8,793 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Journey Strategic Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Granite Construction in the second quarter worth approximately $286,000.

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.