The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that ATB Capital Markets analyst Chris Murray has reaffirmed his "outperform" recommendation for Bird Construction. The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Murray hiked his share target ahead by $1.50 to $16.50. Analysts on average target the shares at $15.19. The Globe says Mr. Murray thinks a significant, 30.2-per-cent advance to Bird Construction's monthly dividend implies "strong" earnings-per-share growth in 2024 and reinforces his "positive outlook." Mr. Murray says in a note: "The announcement provides further evidence of the company's improving project mix, margin profile, and overall earnings quality, as well as management's confidence in its ability to convert the Company's $3-billion backlog, and sizable pending backlog, into sustained earnings growth. The news reinforces our view that demand conditions for infrastructure work remain firm, which we expect to support book-to-bill trends (more than 1.0 times) in Q4/23 and 2024. ... We expect the stock to respond favourably to the dividend increase and implied outlook for 2024." The Globe reported on Sept. 13 that Stifel continued to rate Bird "buy." It was then worth $10.78.