Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Sets New 52-Week High at $62.18

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $62.18 and last traded at $61.87, with a volume of 75778 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $61.34.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GVA shares. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Granite Construction from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Granite Construction from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th.

Granite Construction Trading Up 1.2 %

The company's 50 day simple moving average is $55.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.66. The firm has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.20 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The construction company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $933.70 million during the quarter. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 14.91% and a net margin of 0.98%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. Granite Construction's payout ratio is currently 88.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Louis E. Caldera sold 1,263 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $63,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,528 shares in the company, valued at $426,400. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Bradley Jay Williams sold 750 shares of the business'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 directly owns 7,423 shares of the company's stock, valued at $454,361.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Louis E. Caldera sold 1,263 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $63,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,528 shares of the company's stock, valued at $426,400. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.54% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Granite Construction

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 30.8% in the first 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. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the first quarter valued at about $107,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp raised its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 35.1% in the fourth quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 2,500 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 650 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the first quarter valued at about $217,000.

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.