Balfour Beatty (LON:BBY) Sets New 12-Month High - Here's What Happened

Shares of Balfour Beatty plc (LON:BBY - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as GBX 509.50 ($6.86) and last traded at GBX 506.50 ($6.82), with a volume of 1096255 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 501.50 ($6.75).

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Berenberg Bank reiterated a "buy" rating and set a GBX 510 ($6.86) price objective on shares of Balfour Beatty in a research note on Monday, March 17th.

Balfour Beatty Trading Down 0.1%

The firm's fifty day moving average price is GBX 455.64 and its 200-day moving average price is GBX 452.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 79.85, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of £2.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.81.

Balfour Beatty (LON:BBY - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The company reported GBX 43.60 ($0.59) EPS for the quarter. Balfour Beatty had a net margin of 2.85% and a return on equity of 19.46%. On average, equities analysts expect that Balfour Beatty plc will post 43.3100698 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Balfour Beatty Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a GBX 8.70 ($0.12) dividend. This is an increase from Balfour Beatty's previous dividend of $3.80. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a yield of 1.92%. Balfour Beatty's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.02%.

Balfour Beatty announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, March 12th that permits the company to buyback 0 shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Balfour Beatty

In related news, insider Philip Harrison sold 155,560 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of GBX 434 ($5.84), for a total value of £675,130.40 ($908,654.64). Company insiders own 1.15% of the company's stock.

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.