Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Sets New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $137.20 and last traded at $135.6810, with a volume of 609294 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $136.19.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on GVA shares. Wall Street Zen raised Granite Construction from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Granite Construction in a research report on Monday, December 29th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Granite Construction from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Granite Construction from $109.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Granite Construction from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Granite Construction currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $139.50.

Granite Construction Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $5.85 billion, a PE ratio of 36.73 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $124.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

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

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis 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%.

Institutional Trading of Granite Construction

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GVA. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 73.2% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,379 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,612,000 after purchasing an additional 9,038 shares during the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in Granite Construction in the 1st quarter worth approximately $207,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 21.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 168,859 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $12,732,000 after acquiring an additional 29,428 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 64.7% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,110 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $104,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $226,000.

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.