Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Receives $161.00 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $161.00.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GVA. Weiss Ratings lowered Granite Construction from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $139.00 price target (down from $141.00) on shares of Granite Construction in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Stephens started coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $180.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Granite Construction news, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,057,500.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 29,787 shares in the company, valued at $4,199,967. The trade was a 20.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Bradley Jay Williams sold 6,734 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $949,494.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,041 shares in the company, valued at $992,781. This represents a 48.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Granite Construction

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GVA. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Granite Construction by 8.9% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,602,382 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $175,701,000 after purchasing an additional 131,360 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 52.8% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,397,573 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $167,541,000 after purchasing an additional 483,080 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Granite Construction by 0.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,067,545 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $127,969,000 after purchasing an additional 4,327 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Granite Construction by 12.4% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 861,770 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $94,493,000 after purchasing an additional 94,902 shares during the period. Finally, Cartenna Capital LP lifted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Cartenna Capital LP now owns 715,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $82,475,000 after buying an additional 105,000 shares in the last quarter.

Granite Construction Price Performance

Granite Construction stock opened at $126.33 on Friday. Granite Construction has a 52 week low of $89.80 and a 52 week high of $162.08. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $138.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $130.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.41 and a beta of 1.29.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.77) by $1.03. The company had revenue of $912.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $782.26 million. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 3.99%.Granite Construction’s quarterly revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.01 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Granite Construction will post 6.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.99%.

Granite Construction Company Profile

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.