Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $84.05 and last traded at $83.01, with a volume of 78399 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $82.23.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Granite Construction from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th.

Granite Construction Trading Up 0.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.37 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $76.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.60.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The construction company reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 17.82% and a net margin of 2.35%. The firm’s revenue was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio is presently 88.14%.

Insider Activity at Granite Construction

In other Granite Construction news, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.22, for a total value of $346,100.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,518,894.46. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Granite Construction

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GVA. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in Granite Construction in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 30.8% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 850 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Granite Construction by 66.4% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 902 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the first quarter worth $107,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Granite Construction in the second quarter valued at $107,000.

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.