StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Summit Materials (NYSE:SUM)

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Summit Materials (NYSE:SUM) in a research report report published on Saturday morning. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the construction company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $52.50 price target (down from $54.00) on shares of Summit Materials in a report on Monday, November 25th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $52.50 price target (down from $55.00) on shares of Summit Materials in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Summit Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $52.50 in a report on Monday, December 16th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Summit Materials from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $52.50 price target (up from $43.00) on shares of Summit Materials in a research note on Monday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Summit Materials has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.54.

Summit Materials Stock Performance

Summit Materials stock opened at $50.59 on Friday. Summit Materials has a 12 month low of $34.38 and a 12 month high of $53.49. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $48.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 3.10 and a quick ratio of 2.48. The company has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a PE ratio of 61.70 and a beta of 1.14.

Summit Materials (NYSE:SUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. Summit Materials had a net margin of 3.92% and a return on equity of 6.90%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Summit Materials will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Christopher Burke Gaskill sold 1,536 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.91, for a total value of $78,197.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,047,651.11. This represents a 3.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Summit Materials by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,289,410 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $206,445,000 after buying an additional 94,694 shares during the last quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Summit Materials by 355.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 23,963 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $935,000 after purchasing an additional 18,706 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Summit Materials by 3.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 287,733 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $11,230,000 after purchasing an additional 10,463 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Summit Materials by 3.9% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 731,995 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $28,570,000 after buying an additional 27,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Summit Materials by 21.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,752,993 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $68,419,000 after buying an additional 313,957 shares during the last quarter.

About Summit Materials

Summit Materials, Inc is a vertically integrated construction materials company, which engages in manufacturing construction materials and related downstream products. It operates through the following segments: West, East, and Cement. The West segment includes operations in Texas, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Arkansas and British Columbia, Canada.