Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $96.15 and last traded at $95.43, with a volume of 97067 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $91.35.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Granite Construction from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th.

Granite Construction Trading Up 2.3 %

The company has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a PE ratio of 43.94 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The construction company reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.46). Granite Construction had a net margin of 2.80% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.69 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.85%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Granite Construction

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the first quarter valued at about $607,000. Comerica Bank raised its position in Granite Construction by 177.6% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 113,514 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,485,000 after purchasing an additional 72,621 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Granite Construction by 296.6% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,138 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 9,825 shares during the period. Castleark Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 4.3% during the first quarter. Castleark Management LLC now owns 72,580 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,146,000 after buying an additional 2,960 shares during the period. Finally, Highbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the second quarter valued at $4,513,000.

Granite Construction Company Profile

Granite Construction Incorporated operates as an infrastructure contractor in the United States. It operates through two segments: Construction and Materials segments. The Construction segment engages in the construction and rehabilitation of roads, pavement preservation, bridges, rail lines, airports, marine ports, dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, infrastructure, and site development for use by the public and water-related construction for municipal agencies, commercial water suppliers, industrial facilities, and energy companies; and construction of various complex projects, including infrastructure/site development, mining, public safety, tunnel, solar storage, and power related projects.