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

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $99.72 and last traded at $99.08, with a volume of 37497 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $98.21.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective 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 1.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.26 and a beta of 1.39. The business has a 50 day moving average of $85.05 and a 200 day moving average of $72.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.46.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The construction company reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by ($0.46). Granite Construction had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 2.80%. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.69 earnings per share. Granite Construction’s revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Granite Construction

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. grew its stake in Granite Construction by 0.5% during the second quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 38,191 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,365,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 1.9% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,309 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $763,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 7.2% in the second quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 4,553 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 66.4% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 902 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Granite Construction by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 22,200 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,376,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter.

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.