Stephens Upgrades Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) to Strong-Buy

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) was upgraded by investment analysts at Stephens to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a report on Thursday, May 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $157.25.

Granite Construction Trading Up 2.4%

NYSE GVA opened at $160.44 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.24 and a beta of 1.32. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $137.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $127.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Granite Construction has a one year low of $89.80 and a one year high of $162.08.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.77) by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $912.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $782.26 million. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 3.99%.The company’s revenue was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.01 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Granite Construction will post 6.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Granite Construction

In other Granite Construction news, Director John Timothy Romer acquired 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $143.65 per share, with a total value of $53,868.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 2,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,363.65. This represents a 15.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,057,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 29,787 shares in the company, valued at $4,199,967. This trade represents a 20.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Granite Construction

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 52,374 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,279,000 after purchasing an additional 10,484 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,160,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 39.1% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 11,405 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,367,000 after purchasing an additional 3,207 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the first quarter valued at approximately $473,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,562,000.

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.