Primoris Services (NASDAQ:PRIM) Reaches New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Primoris Services Co. (NASDAQ:PRIM) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $90.86 and last traded at $87.90, with a volume of 645313 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $89.03.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Primoris Services in a research report on Monday, October 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $71.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Primoris Services in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Primoris Services from $75.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Primoris Services from $51.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Primoris Services from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $88.67.

Primoris Services Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.61 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.38.

Primoris Services (NASDAQ:PRIM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The construction company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.20. Primoris Services had a net margin of 2.68% and a return on equity of 15.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.02 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Primoris Services Co. will post 3.26 EPS for the current year.

Primoris Services Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is a positive change from Primoris Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Primoris Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.60%.

Insider Activity at Primoris Services

In related news, CEO Thomas Edward Mccormick sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.28, for a total transaction of $1,219,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,989,779.20. This trade represents a 19.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Lee King sold 2,000 shares of Primoris Services stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.98, for a total transaction of $167,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,000,235.64. This represents a 7.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,018 shares of company stock valued at $1,854,974 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Primoris Services

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Primoris Services by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,218,911 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $70,810,000 after acquiring an additional 15,070 shares during the period. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Primoris Services by 80.6% in the third quarter. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC now owns 839,853 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $48,779,000 after purchasing an additional 374,926 shares in the last quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Primoris Services by 28.4% in the third quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP now owns 699,817 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $40,645,000 after purchasing an additional 154,627 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Primoris Services by 17.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 607,010 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,255,000 after purchasing an additional 91,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in shares of Primoris Services in the second quarter worth about $28,089,000. Institutional investors own 91.82% of the company’s stock.

About Primoris Services

Primoris Services Corporation, a specialty contractor company, provides a range of specialty construction, fabrication, maintenance, replacement, and engineering services in the United States and Canada. The company operates through Utilities and Energy/Renewables segments. The Utilities segment offers installation and maintenance services for new and existing natural gas distribution systems, electric utility distribution and transmission systems, and communications systems.