Ausbil Investment Management Ltd Cuts Position in Primoris Services Co. (NASDAQ:PRIM)

Ausbil Investment Management Ltd cut its stake in Primoris Services Co. (NASDAQ:PRIM) by 51.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 28,128 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 30,095 shares during the quarter. Primoris Services comprises about 1.4% of Ausbil Investment Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest position. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Primoris Services were worth $2,239,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Primoris Services by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,218,911 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $70,810,000 after acquiring an additional 15,070 shares during the period. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Primoris Services by 80.6% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC now owns 839,853 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $48,779,000 after acquiring an additional 374,926 shares during the period. Yaupon Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Primoris Services by 28.4% in the 3rd quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP now owns 699,817 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $40,645,000 after acquiring an additional 154,627 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Primoris Services by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 607,010 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,255,000 after acquiring an additional 91,235 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Primoris Services by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 261,800 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $15,205,000 after acquiring an additional 29,200 shares during the period. 91.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PRIM. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Primoris Services from $51.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Primoris Services from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Primoris Services from $75.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Primoris Services in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Guggenheim assumed coverage on Primoris Services in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.50.

Primoris Services Stock Performance

Shares of PRIM opened at $76.76 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $80.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.10. Primoris Services Co. has a one year low of $32.63 and a one year high of $90.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.83 and a beta of 1.14.

Primoris Services (NASDAQ:PRIM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The construction company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.20. Primoris Services had a return on equity of 15.23% and a net margin of 2.68%. The company had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. This is a boost from Primoris Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Primoris Services’s payout ratio is currently 10.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Lee King sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.14, for a total value of $152,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,965,782.52. The trade was a 7.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Thomas Edward Mccormick sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.28, for a total value of $1,219,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 61,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,989,779.20. This trade represents a 19.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,018 shares of company stock valued at $1,854,974. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Primoris Services Profile

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.