Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Granite Construction now has a consensus analyst rating of “Hold” from five brokerages, with an average 12-month price target of about $149.67.
• The company recently posted strong quarterly results, beating expectations with $0.26 EPS versus a loss estimate and $912.47 million in revenue, up 30.4% year over year.
• Insiders have been selling shares, including CEO Kyle T. Larkin and SVP Michael G. Tatusko, while institutional investors such as Millennium Management and First Trust Advisors increased their stakes.

Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the five brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $149.6667.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Granite Construction in a report on Thursday, May 28th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut Granite Construction from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. Zacks Research raised Granite Construction to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Granite Construction from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Thursday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 26,651 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total value of $3,148,016.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 114,881 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,569,743.72. This represents a 18.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 7,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,057,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 29,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,199,967. The trade was a 20.11% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 40,885 shares of company stock worth $5,155,010. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Granite Construction by 8.9% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,602,382 shares of the construction company's stock worth $175,701,000 after purchasing an additional 131,360 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Granite Construction by 52.8% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,397,573 shares of the construction company's stock worth $167,541,000 after purchasing an additional 483,080 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP grew its stake in Granite Construction by 569.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 1,339,818 shares of the construction company's stock worth $151,064,000 after buying an additional 1,139,818 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Granite Construction by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,067,545 shares of the construction company's stock worth $127,969,000 after buying an additional 4,327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP grew its stake in Granite Construction by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 861,770 shares of the construction company's stock worth $94,493,000 after buying an additional 94,902 shares in the last quarter.

Granite Construction Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GVA opened at $146.44 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.41 billion, a PE ratio of 42.20 and a beta of 1.32. Granite Construction has a twelve month low of $88.26 and a twelve month high of $148.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $134.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $126.40.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.77) by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $912.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $782.26 million. Granite Construction had a net margin of 3.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.01 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Granite Construction will post 6.14 EPS for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Granite Construction's dividend payout ratio is 14.99%.

About Granite Construction

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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