Essex Investment Management Co. LLC Sells 83,700 Shares of Primoris Services Co. (NASDAQ:PRIM)

Key Points

• Essex Investment Management Co. LLC reduced its stake in Primoris Services by 57.2%, holding 62,671 shares worth $3,598,000 after selling 83,700 shares in the first quarter.
• Analysts have raised price targets for Primoris Services, with KeyCorp increasing its price objective from $79.00 to $98.00, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. set it at $102.00, reflecting a generally positive outlook on the stock.
• Primoris Services recently announced a dividend of $0.08 per share, paid on July 15th, with a 0.35% yield and a payout ratio of 8.47%.

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC cut its holdings in shares of Primoris Services Co. (NASDAQ:PRIM - Free Report) by 57.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 62,671 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 83,700 shares during the period. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Primoris Services worth $3,598,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PRIM. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Primoris Services by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,317 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $406,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Primoris Services by 71.2% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 51,573 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $3,940,000 after purchasing an additional 21,443 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Primoris Services during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $834,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Primoris Services by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,244,920 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $477,112,000 after purchasing an additional 82,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Primoris Services by 111.4% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 40,780 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $3,184,000 after purchasing an additional 21,494 shares during the last quarter. 91.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PRIM shares. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Primoris Services from $79.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Primoris Services from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on shares of Primoris Services in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Primoris Services from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Primoris Services in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Primoris Services has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $91.56.

Insider Activity at Primoris Services

In other news, Director John P. Schauerman sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $1,160,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 102,281 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,913,480.97. This represents a 12.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Primoris Services Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PRIM traded down $3.44 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $90.73. 812,190 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 913,599. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The company's 50 day moving average is $80.43 and its 200 day moving average is $72.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.07 and a beta of 1.37. Primoris Services Co. has a one year low of $45.92 and a one year high of $96.16.

Primoris Services (NASDAQ:PRIM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The construction company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. Primoris Services had a net margin of 2.68% and a return on equity of 15.23%. Primoris Services's quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Primoris Services Co. will post 3.26 EPS for the current year.

Primoris Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Primoris Services's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.47%.

About Primoris Services

Primoris Services Corporation, a specialty contractor company, provides a range of specialty construction, fabrication, maintenance, replacement, and engineering services in the United States and Canada. The company operates through Utilities and Energy/Renewables segments. The Utilities segment offers installation and maintenance services for new and existing natural gas distribution systems, electric utility distribution and transmission systems, and communications systems.