Balfour Beatty (LON:BBY) Board Initiates Stock Buyback Plan

Key Points

• Board approved a stock repurchase program allowing Balfour Beatty to buy shares via open-market purchases (the announcement text lists "0 outstanding shares").
• Shares jumped 8.9% to GBX 764.50 on the day on higher-than-average volume following the news.
• Analyst sentiment is positive: Deutsche Bank raised its target from GBX 650 to GBX 715, and the consensus rating is Buy with an average target of GBX 712.50.

Balfour Beatty (LON:BBY - Get Free Report) announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, March 11th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback 0 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Balfour Beatty from GBX 650 to GBX 715 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of GBX 712.50.

Balfour Beatty Stock Up 8.9%

Shares of LON:BBY traded up GBX 62.50 on Wednesday, hitting GBX 764.50. 5,571,631 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,123,844. Balfour Beatty has a 52 week low of GBX 365.80 and a 52 week high of GBX 800. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 104.84. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 734.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of GBX 687.37. The company has a market cap of £3.70 billion, a PE ratio of 21.66, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.64.

Balfour Beatty (LON:BBY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 11th. The company reported GBX 47.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Balfour Beatty had a net margin of 2.06% and a return on equity of 16.67%. As a group, research analysts expect that Balfour Beatty will post 43.3100698 earnings per share for the current year.

About Balfour Beatty

Balfour Beatty is a leading international infrastructure group. With 26,000 employees across the UK, US and Hong Kong, we're leading the transformation of our industry to meet the challenges of the future. Trusted by our customers to deliver sustainable solutions and strengthen communities, we finance, develop, build, maintain and operate the increasingly complex and critical infrastructure that supports national economies and deliver projects at the heart of local communities. Collaborating with governments, our customers and partners, we deliver powerful new solutions, shape thinking, create skylines and inspire a new generation of talent to be the change-makers of tomorrow.

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