Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Hits New 52-Week High at $59.15

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $59.15 and last traded at $58.56, with a volume of 59972 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $57.26.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GVA. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Granite Construction from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Granite Construction from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th.

Granite Construction Trading Up 3.7 %

The firm has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 100.66 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 1.51. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.14.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The construction company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.02). Granite Construction had a return on equity of 14.91% and a net margin of 0.98%. The firm had revenue of $933.70 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 88.14%.

Insider Activity at Granite Construction

In other Granite Construction news, Director Louis E. Caldera sold 1,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $63,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $426,400. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Granite Construction

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GVA. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC increased its position in shares of Granite Construction by 30.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 850 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Granite Construction in the first quarter worth approximately $937,000. Wesbanco Bank Inc. bought a new position in Granite Construction during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,024,000. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 208.9% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 110,773 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,328,000 after acquiring an additional 74,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 637.4% in the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 936,858 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $53,523,000 after acquiring an additional 809,803 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.