Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Reaches New 52-Week High - Here's Why

Key Points

• Granite Construction's stock reached a new 52-week high of $111.43, closing at $111.12 with significant trading volume of 842,730 shares.
• Recent analyst ratings saw Wall Street Zen upgrade Granite's rating from "hold" to "buy," while Goldman Sachs issued a "sell" rating with a target price increase to $76.
• The company reported earnings of $1.93 per share in its latest quarter, exceeding estimates, with quarterly revenue growing by 4.4% compared to the previous year.

Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $111.43 and last traded at $111.12, with a volume of 842730 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $109.37.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GVA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Granite Construction from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Granite Construction from $69.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th.

Granite Construction Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 1.57. The business's fifty day moving average price is $94.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.06. The stock has a market cap of $4.79 billion, a PE ratio of 35.78 and a beta of 1.39.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The construction company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.16 billion. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 21.64% and a net margin of 3.89%. The company's revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.73 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. Granite Construction's payout ratio is presently 16.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Granite Construction news, SVP Brian R. Dowd sold 2,025 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.76, for a total value of $185,814.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 18,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,726,831.44. This represents a 9.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Granite Construction

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GVA. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Granite Construction by 4.5% during the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 2,813 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 68.3% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,499 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 2,231 shares during the last quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury boosted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 15,456 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,445,000 after purchasing an additional 1,900 shares during the period. HRT Financial LP increased its position in shares of Granite Construction by 59.4% during the 2nd quarter. HRT Financial LP now owns 100,554 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $9,402,000 after purchasing an additional 37,452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eschler Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in Granite Construction during the 2nd quarter valued at $576,000.

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.