Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Hits New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $136.79 and last traded at $135.5150, with a volume of 65960 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $133.59.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GVA. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Granite Construction from $109.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Zacks Research raised shares of Granite Construction from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Wall Street Zen cut Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Granite Construction in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on Granite Construction from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $139.50.

Granite Construction Stock Up 1.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.22. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $122.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $112.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.10 and a beta of 1.34.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The construction company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 24.10% and a net margin of 4.36%.Granite Construction’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.23 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Granite Construction news, Director Celeste Beeks Mastin sold 7,614 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.23, for a total value of $801,221.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,206 shares in the company, valued at $1,073,977.38. This represents a 42.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Granite Construction

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GVA. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 41.5% in the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 38,809 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,255,000 after buying an additional 11,385 shares in the last quarter. 12th Street Asset Management Company LLC bought a new stake in Granite Construction in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,799,000. Atria Investments Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $301,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,221,031 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $114,179,000 after acquiring an additional 46,552 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 0.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,037,916 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $97,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,979 shares in the last quarter.

About Granite Construction

Granite Construction Inc is a publicly traded heavy civil contractor and construction materials producer based in Watsonville, California. The company specializes in delivering large-scale infrastructure projects for government and private clients, focusing on the development, rehabilitation and maintenance of transportation, water resource and industrial facilities. Its turnkey solutions span the full project lifecycle, from preconstruction and design-build to construction management and facilities maintenance.

In its construction segment, Granite undertakes highway and bridge building, airport runway and taxiway construction, marine terminal and port improvements, dam and reservoir projects, transit systems and underground utilities.