Summit Materials (NYSE:SUM) Sees Large Volume Increase – Still a Buy?

Shares of Summit Materials, Inc. (NYSE:SUM) saw strong trading volume on Tuesday . 9,108,680 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 91% from the previous session’s volume of 4,768,208 shares.The stock last traded at $52.04 and had previously closed at $51.10.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Summit Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $58.00 to $52.50 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Longbow Research reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Summit Materials in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup reiterated 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. Barclays upgraded Summit Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed a “peer perform” rating on shares of Summit Materials in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Summit Materials has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.54.

Summit Materials Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a current ratio of 3.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $49.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.59. The stock has a market cap of $9.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.48 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Insider Transactions at Summit Materials

In other Summit Materials news, insider Christopher Burke Gaskill sold 1,536 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.91, for a total transaction of $78,197.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 40,221 shares in the company, valued at $2,047,651.11. This trade represents a 3.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Summit Materials

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SUM. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Summit Materials by 179.2% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 550 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 worth $206,445,000 after acquiring an additional 94,694 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Summit Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at about $203,000. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in Summit Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,359,000. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Summit Materials by 13.6% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 28,244 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,102,000 after acquiring an additional 3,390 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.