Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Hits New 52-Week High at $56.26

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $56.26 and last traded at $56.12, with a volume of 52494 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $55.47.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on 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 Stock Up 1.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $50.08 and a 200-day moving average of $45.81. The company has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.45 and a beta of 1.45.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The construction company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.02). Granite Construction had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 1.24%. The firm had revenue of $933.70 million for the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is currently 68.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Louis E. Caldera sold 1,263 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $63,150.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 8,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $426,400. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Granite Construction

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new position in Granite Construction in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $8,554,000. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 378,995 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $14,409,000 after buying an additional 7,298 shares during the period. Comerica Bank bought a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the 2nd quarter valued at $103,870,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund bought a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the 3rd quarter valued at $978,000. Finally, Occidental Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 84.0% during the 3rd quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 29,548 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,123,000 after buying an additional 13,487 shares during the period.

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.