Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Short Interest Up 7.2% in January

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,750,000 shares, a growth of 7.2% from the January 15th total of 4,430,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 551,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.6 days. Approximately 11.0% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Granite Construction Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:GVA traded up $0.69 on Tuesday, reaching $87.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 840,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 561,887. Granite Construction has a 12-month low of $48.11 and a 12-month high of $105.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.17 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $89.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.02.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The construction company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.19). Granite Construction had a net margin of 2.80% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The business had revenue of $977.30 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.82 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Granite Construction will post 4.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.85%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Granite Construction

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 23,747 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,083,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the period. Mariner LLC raised its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 12,408 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,088,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 68.4% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 325 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 10,376 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $910,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,299 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $377,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period.

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.