Oppenheimer Begins Coverage on Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA)

Investment analysts at Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price target on the construction company’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price target indicates a potential upside of 25.94% from the company’s current price.

GVA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Granite Construction from $109.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Granite Construction from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $149.67.

Granite Construction Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of Granite Construction stock opened at $134.98 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $5.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.90 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.09. Granite Construction has a one year low of $87.72 and a one year high of $145.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $127.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $121.98.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.77) by $1.03. The company had revenue of $912.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.26 million. Granite Construction had a net margin of 3.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. Granite Construction’s quarterly revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.01 EPS.

Insider Transactions at Granite Construction

In other news, CFO Staci M. Woolsey sold 1,523 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.84, for a total value of $182,516.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,954 shares in the company, valued at $2,271,447.36. This trade represents a 7.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 26,651 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total transaction of $3,148,016.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 114,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,569,743.72. This represents a 18.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 35,488 shares of company stock valued at $4,207,042 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Granite Construction

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 41.5% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 38,809 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,255,000 after purchasing an additional 11,385 shares during the last quarter. 12th Street Asset Management Company LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the 3rd quarter worth about $6,799,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the 4th quarter worth about $1,783,000. Boothbay Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 160,331 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $17,580,000 after purchasing an additional 13,401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leuthold Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 1,591.8% during the 4th 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 last quarter.

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.