Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $149.6667.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GVA shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Granite Construction from $109.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Granite Construction in a report on Thursday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut Granite Construction from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Granite Construction from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Granite Construction from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th.

Insider Transactions at Granite Construction

In other news, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 26,651 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total transaction of $3,148,016.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 114,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,569,743.72. This trade represents a 18.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Staci M. Woolsey sold 1,523 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.84, for a total value of $182,516.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,271,447.36. The trade was a 7.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,488 shares of company stock valued at $4,207,042. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Granite Construction

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd grew its holdings in Granite Construction by 512.8% in the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 239 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Granite Construction in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 94.6% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 436 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares during the period.

Granite Construction Price Performance

GVA stock traded up $1.36 during trading on Thursday, reaching $136.01. 12,132 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 650,560. The company has a market cap of $5.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.23 and a beta of 1.35. Granite Construction has a 52-week low of $87.72 and a 52-week high of $145.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $127.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $121.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.09.

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

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.