StockNews.com Upgrades Sterling Infrastructure (NASDAQ:STRL) to “Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sterling Infrastructure (NASDAQ:STRL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Separately, William Blair initiated coverage on Sterling Infrastructure in a research report on Friday, January 17th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company.

Sterling Infrastructure Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STRL opened at $141.11 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $151.96. The stock has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.84, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. Sterling Infrastructure has a 12 month low of $74.44 and a 12 month high of $206.07.

Sterling Infrastructure (NASDAQ:STRL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The construction company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $593.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $599.90 million. Sterling Infrastructure had a net margin of 8.77% and a return on equity of 27.52%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Sterling Infrastructure will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sterling Infrastructure

In other news, Director Dana C. O’brien sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.89, for a total transaction of $351,780.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,901 shares in the company, valued at $4,555,726.89. This trade represents a 7.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sterling Infrastructure

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in Sterling Infrastructure by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 1,914 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. AXA S.A. purchased a new position in Sterling Infrastructure during the second quarter valued at $868,000. Creative Planning acquired a new stake in shares of Sterling Infrastructure in the second quarter valued at about $361,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Sterling Infrastructure by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,149 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,438,000 after purchasing an additional 1,341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in Sterling Infrastructure in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,538,000. 80.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Sterling Infrastructure

Sterling Infrastructure, Inc engages in the provision of e-infrastructure, transportation, and building solutions primarily in the United States. It operates through three segments: E-Infrastructure Solutions, Transportation Solutions, and Building Solutions. The E-Infrastructure Solutions segment provides site development services for the blue-chip end users in the e-commerce distribution center, data center, manufacturing, warehousing, and power generation sectors.