Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $104.71 and last traded at $104.34, with a volume of 5247 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $100.20.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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 research report on Wednesday, October 9th.

Granite Construction Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.56. The company has a 50-day moving average of $88.73 and a 200-day moving average of $74.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.91 and a beta of 1.41.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The construction company reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.46). The company had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Granite Construction had a net margin of 2.80% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.85%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Granite Construction

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GVA. Highbridge Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Granite Construction in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,513,000. Aristeia Capital L.L.C. purchased a new position in Granite Construction during the second quarter worth about $4,513,000. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 128,511 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $7,964,000 after buying an additional 17,738 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Granite Construction in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,163,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LP acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the 2nd quarter valued at about $503,000.

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.