Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on GVA. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Granite Construction in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on Granite Construction from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.00.

Granite Construction Trading Down 0.2%

GVA opened at $102.51 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $4.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.50 and a beta of 1.42. Granite Construction has a 12 month low of $69.08 and a 12 month high of $112.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $105.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.36.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The construction company reported $2.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.56 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 21.64% and a net margin of 3.89%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.05 earnings per share. Granite Construction has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Granite Construction will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is currently 14.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Granite Construction

In other Granite Construction news, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total value of $220,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 29,241 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,216,510. This trade represents a 6.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brian R. Dowd sold 2,025 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.16, for a total transaction of $223,074.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 14,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,617,699.60. The trade was a 12.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,525 shares of company stock worth $608,314. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Granite Construction

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GVA. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the second quarter worth about $301,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 112.9% in the 1st quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 11,279 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $850,000 after purchasing an additional 5,981 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its holdings in Granite Construction by 96,340.0% in the 1st quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 14,466 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,091,000 after purchasing an additional 14,451 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd raised its holdings in Granite Construction by 104.2% in the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 19,205 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,448,000 after purchasing an additional 9,801 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in Granite Construction by 26.5% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 674 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter.

About Granite Construction

Granite Construction Incorporated operates as an infrastructure contractor in the United States. It operates through two segments: Construction and Materials segments. The Construction segment engages in the construction and rehabilitation of roads, pavement preservation, bridges, rail lines, airports, marine ports, dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, infrastructure, and site development for use by the public and water-related construction for municipal agencies, commercial water suppliers, industrial facilities, and energy companies; and construction of various complex projects, including infrastructure/site development, mining, public safety, tunnel, solar storage, and power related projects.