Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) PT Raised to $61.00

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) had its target price boosted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $55.00 to $61.00 in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sell rating on the construction company’s stock.

Granite Construction Trading Up 0.2 %

GVA stock traded up $0.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $69.52. The company had a trading volume of 668,905 shares, compared to its average volume of 988,394. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $63.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.81. Granite Construction has a 12 month low of $33.74 and a 12 month high of $73.01. The stock has a market cap of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.83 and a beta of 1.41.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The construction company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. Granite Construction had a net margin of 2.35% and a return on equity of 17.82%. Granite Construction’s revenue was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Granite Construction will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is 88.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Granite Construction

In related news, SVP Bradley Jay Williams sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.21, for a total value of $45,907.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $454,361.83. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Granite Construction

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 44.0% in the 1st quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 108,000 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,170,000 after purchasing an additional 33,000 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 637.4% during the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 936,858 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $53,523,000 after buying an additional 809,803 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the 1st quarter worth about $607,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC boosted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 926.5% during the 4th quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 61,239 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,115,000 after buying an additional 55,273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 296.6% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,138 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $751,000 after buying an additional 9,825 shares during the last quarter.

Granite Construction Company Profile

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.