Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

GVA has been the subject of several other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Granite Construction in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $109.00 price target for the company. 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 report on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Granite Construction in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Granite Construction from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Granite Construction has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $119.50.

Granite Construction Price Performance

Shares of GVA opened at $121.49 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $112.27 and its 200-day moving average is $106.61. 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 company has a market capitalization of $5.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.01 and a beta of 1.32. Granite Construction has a fifty-two week low of $69.08 and a fifty-two week high of $124.99.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The construction company reported $2.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.56 by $0.14. Granite Construction had a net margin of 4.31% and a return on equity of 24.04%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.05 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Granite Construction will post 5.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Granite Construction

In other news, Director Celeste Beeks Mastin sold 7,614 shares of Granite Construction 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 sale, the director directly owned 10,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Granite Construction

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Ethic Inc. increased its holdings in Granite Construction by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 2,341 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 7.3% during the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,642 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Callan Family Office LLC raised its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 4.4% in the third quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 2,774 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Granite Construction by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 2,813 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Granite Construction by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,675 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,172,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter.

About Granite Construction

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.