Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Granite Construction holds an average “Hold” rating among six analysts, with two sells, one hold, two buys and one strong buy. The average 12-month price target is $158.50, above the stock’s recent $119.26 price.
• Analyst views remain mixed: Oppenheimer and Stephens set $180 price targets with positive ratings, while Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to “Sell” and cut its target to $119.
• Granite reported quarterly EPS of $2.16, missing the $2.25 consensus estimate, though revenue reached $1.46 billion and rose 28.8% year over year, exceeding expectations.

Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Hold" from the six research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $158.50.

GVA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research upgraded Granite Construction to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Granite Construction from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Stephens began coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a research note on Friday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $180.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Granite Construction from $139.00 to $119.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Granite Construction from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Granite Construction

In related news, Director John Timothy Romer bought 375 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $143.65 per share, for a total transaction of $53,868.75. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 2,801 shares of the company's stock, valued at $402,363.65. The trade was a 15.46% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 7,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,057,500.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 29,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,199,967. The trade was a 20.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 1,150 shares of company stock valued at $156,636. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Granite Construction

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GVA. Hill City Capital LP bought a new stake in Granite Construction in the 2nd quarter worth $175,508,000. Leuthold Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 1,591.8% during the fourth quarter. Leuthold Group LLC now owns 45,223 shares of the construction company's stock worth $5,216,000 after purchasing an additional 42,550 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the first quarter worth about $1,160,000. EFG International AG bought a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the second quarter worth about $6,424,000. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the second quarter worth about $5,104,000.

Granite Construction Stock Down 0.2%

GVA opened at $119.26 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.22 billion, a PE ratio of -27.67 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. Granite Construction has a 52 week low of $97.26 and a 52 week high of $162.08. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $127.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $130.37.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The construction company reported $2.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.25 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Granite Construction had a positive return on equity of 27.83% and a negative net margin of 3.32%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 28.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Granite Construction will post 6.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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