Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Granite Construction Stock Up 2.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.94 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.46. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $80.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.42.

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

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is currently 23.85%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Granite Construction

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Granite Construction by 66.4% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 902 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Granite Construction during the second quarter valued at $107,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Granite Construction by 82.5% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 907 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the third quarter worth about $214,000.

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.