Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $119.99 and last traded at $119.82, with a volume of 599727 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $115.35.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GVA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 14th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Granite Construction from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Granite Construction in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded Granite Construction from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a report on Monday, November 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $109.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Granite Construction presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.50.

Granite Construction Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is $108.49 and its 200 day moving average is $104.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.64 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

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

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 14.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Celeste Beeks Mastin sold 7,614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.23, for a total transaction of $801,221.22. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,073,977.38. The trade was a 42.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Granite Construction

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 8.9% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,602,382 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $175,701,000 after purchasing an additional 131,360 shares in the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 14.3% in the second quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 1,370,029 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $128,111,000 after buying an additional 171,904 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP raised its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 569.9% in the third quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 1,339,818 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $151,064,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139,818 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,221,031 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $114,179,000 after buying an additional 46,552 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Granite Construction by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,037,916 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $97,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,979 shares during the period.

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.