The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Price Target to $50.00

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) had its target price upped by The Goldman Sachs Group from $44.00 to $50.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sell rating on the construction company's stock.

Separately, DA Davidson increased their price target on Granite Construction from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th.

Granite Construction Price Performance

NYSE GVA traded down $0.37 on Tuesday, hitting $54.25. 329,427 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 379,602. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $53.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.60. The company has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.38 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Granite Construction has a 1-year low of $33.74 and a 1-year high of $57.93.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The construction company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.02). Granite Construction had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The company had revenue of $933.70 million during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Granite Construction will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Granite Construction's payout ratio is 68.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Louis E. Caldera sold 1,263 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $63,150.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,528 shares of the company's stock, valued at $426,400. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.54% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Granite Construction

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 58.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,764,283 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $70,544,000 after buying an additional 1,019,112 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Granite Construction in the fourth quarter worth $30,408,000. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC boosted its position in Granite Construction by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 1,388,044 shares of the construction company's stock worth $70,596,000 after purchasing an additional 246,154 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new position in Granite Construction in the third quarter worth $8,554,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Granite Construction by 42.3% in the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 742,168 shares of the construction company's stock worth $29,523,000 after purchasing an additional 220,581 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.