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 research report released on Saturday morning.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Granite Construction in a research report on Monday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Granite Construction from $109.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Granite Construction from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Granite Construction from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $139.50.

Granite Construction Stock Performance

Shares of GVA stock opened at $130.86 on Friday. Granite Construction has a fifty-two week low of $69.08 and a fifty-two week high of $136.63. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $120.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $111.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.75 and a beta of 1.34.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The construction company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 24.10% and a net margin of 4.36%.The business had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.23 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Granite Construction will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is currently 14.21%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Celeste Beeks Mastin sold 7,614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,073,977.38. The trade was a 42.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GVA. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new position in Granite Construction during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in Granite Construction in the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Granite Construction in the 4th quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in Granite Construction by 94.6% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 436 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the last quarter.

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.