Balfour Beatty (LON:BBY) Share Price Crosses Above 200 Day Moving Average - Here's Why

Key Points

• Balfour Beatty shares crossed above their 200-day moving average
• Broker upgrades have pushed targets higher — Berenberg raised its target to GBX 870 and Deutsche Bank to GBX 715 — and the stock holds a consensus "Buy" rating with a consensus price target of GBX 792.50.
• Key fundamentals: market cap £3.64bn, P/E 21.29 and a high debt-to-equity ratio of 89.5, and the board has approved a stock repurchase plan to buy shares on the open market.

Balfour Beatty plc (LON:BBY - Get Free Report) shares crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 693.88 and traded as high as GBX 775. Balfour Beatty shares last traded at GBX 751.50, with a volume of 71,912,438 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BBY. Berenberg Bank raised their target price on Balfour Beatty from GBX 800 to GBX 870 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Balfour Beatty from GBX 650 to GBX 715 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Balfour Beatty currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of GBX 792.50.

Balfour Beatty Stock Down 0.6%

The firm's fifty day moving average price is GBX 740.04 and its 200-day moving average price is GBX 693.88. The company has a market capitalization of £3.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 89.50, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Balfour Beatty (LON:BBY - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 11th. The company reported GBX 47.60 earnings per share for the quarter. Balfour Beatty had a return on equity of 23.73% and a net margin of 2.77%. Sell-side analysts expect that Balfour Beatty plc will post 43.3100698 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Balfour Beatty declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, March 11th that permits the company to repurchase 0 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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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