Short Interest in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Expands By 5.5%

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,390,000 shares, an increase of 5.5% from the March 31st total of 4,160,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 356,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 12.3 days. Currently, 10.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GVA. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Granite Construction from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Granite Construction from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th.

Granite Construction Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of GVA stock traded down $0.51 on Wednesday, hitting $54.99. The stock had a trading volume of 296,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 362,067. Granite Construction has a twelve month low of $33.74 and a twelve month high of $57.93. The firm has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.80 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. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $54.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.79.

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

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. Granite Construction's dividend payout ratio is currently 68.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Granite Construction news, Director Louis E. Caldera sold 1,263 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Granite Construction

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Granite Construction in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Granite Construction during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in Granite Construction in the 1st quarter valued at about $107,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp grew its position in shares of Granite Construction by 35.1% during the 4th quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 2,500 shares of the construction company's stock worth $127,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the 1st quarter worth approximately $217,000.

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.