Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $117.47 and last traded at $117.36, with a volume of 55078 shares. The stock had previously closed at $115.45.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GVA. DA Davidson upped their target price on Granite Construction from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $109.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Granite Construction in a research report on Monday. Zacks Research cut shares of Granite Construction from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.50.

Granite Construction Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $106.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.13 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.21.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The construction company reported $2.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.56 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Granite Construction had a net margin of 4.31% and a return on equity of 24.04%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.05 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is 14.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Granite Construction news, Director Celeste Beeks Mastin sold 7,614 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.23, for a total value of $801,221.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,206 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,073,977.38. The trade was a 42.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Granite Construction

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GVA. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in Granite Construction in the 3rd quarter worth about $42,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Granite Construction by 94.6% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 436 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 1,417.6% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 516 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the third quarter valued at approximately $77,000.

Granite Construction Company Profile

Granite Construction Inc is a publicly traded heavy civil contractor and construction materials producer based in Watsonville, California. The company specializes in delivering large-scale infrastructure projects for government and private clients, focusing on the development, rehabilitation and maintenance of transportation, water resource and industrial facilities. Its turnkey solutions span the full project lifecycle, from preconstruction and design-build to construction management and facilities maintenance.

In its construction segment, Granite undertakes highway and bridge building, airport runway and taxiway construction, marine terminal and port improvements, dam and reservoir projects, transit systems and underground utilities.