Analysts Set Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Target Price at $149.67

Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the five research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $149.6667.

GVA has been the topic of a number of research reports. DA Davidson increased their price target on Granite Construction from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen cut Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Granite Construction in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Granite Construction from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Staci M. Woolsey sold 1,523 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.84, for a total transaction of $182,516.32. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,271,447.36. This represents a 7.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 26,651 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total value of $3,148,016.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 114,881 shares in the company, valued at $13,569,743.72. The trade was a 18.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 35,488 shares of company stock worth $4,207,042 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Granite Construction

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Granite Construction by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,602,382 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $175,701,000 after acquiring an additional 131,360 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Granite Construction by 52.8% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,397,573 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $167,541,000 after acquiring an additional 483,080 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP increased its position 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 valued at $151,064,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139,818 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position 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 valued at $127,969,000 after acquiring an additional 4,327 shares during the period. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP increased its position in Granite Construction by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 861,770 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $94,493,000 after acquiring an additional 94,902 shares during the period.

Granite Construction Trading Up 1.7%

NYSE:GVA opened at $139.09 on Thursday. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $123.25. The stock has a market cap of $6.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.08 and a beta of 1.32.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.77) by $1.03. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 3.99%.The business had revenue of $912.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Granite Construction will post 5.13 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.