Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Short Interest Down 14.9% in August

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,010,000 shares, a drop of 14.9% from the August 15th total of 5,890,000 shares. Approximately 11.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 667,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Granite Construction from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd.

Granite Construction Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE GVA traded up $0.89 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $77.26. 276,728 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 494,485. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.09. Granite Construction has a one year low of $33.74 and a one year high of $77.78. The company has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.42 and a beta of 1.39.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The construction company reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. Granite Construction had a net margin of 2.35% and a return on equity of 17.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Granite Construction will post 5.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.14%.

Insider Transactions at Granite Construction

In other news, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.22, for a total transaction of $346,100.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,518,894.46. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Granite Construction

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 5.8% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 24,580 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,523,000 after acquiring an additional 1,349 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 99.3% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,569,319 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $159,221,000 after buying an additional 1,280,288 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 7.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,490 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $712,000 after buying an additional 813 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LP acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the second quarter worth $503,000. Finally, III Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the second quarter worth $849,000.

About Granite Construction

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.