The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Price Target to $70.00

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $61.00 to $70.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sell” rating on the construction company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target indicates a potential downside of 14.30% from the company’s current price.

Granite Construction Stock Up 2.2 %

GVA traded up $1.73 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $81.68. 59,149 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 506,046. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.56. Granite Construction has a fifty-two week low of $33.74 and a fifty-two week high of $82.45. The stock has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 138.44 and a beta of 1.38.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The construction company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.41. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 17.82% and a net margin of 2.35%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Granite Construction will post 5.24 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.22, for a total value of $346,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,943 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,518,894.46. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.81% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GVA. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in Granite Construction during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 30.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 850 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in Granite Construction in the 1st quarter valued at $107,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Granite Construction in the 2nd quarter worth $107,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Granite Construction by 82.5% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $159,000 after acquiring an additional 907 shares during the last quarter.

Granite Construction Company Profile

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.