Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Reaches New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $119.74 and last traded at $118.35, with a volume of 481153 shares. The stock had previously closed at $118.42.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GVA. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $109.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Granite Construction in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Granite Construction from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 14th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Granite Construction from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.50.

Granite Construction Stock Down 0.9%

The company has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.10 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $107.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $103.54.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.05 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Granite Construction

In other Granite Construction news, Director Celeste Beeks Mastin sold 7,614 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,073,977.38. This represents a 42.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Granite Construction

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP raised its position in shares of Granite Construction by 569.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 1,339,818 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $151,064,000 after buying an additional 1,139,818 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Granite Construction in the second quarter valued at approximately $24,812,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in Granite Construction by 87.5% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 556,054 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $60,971,000 after buying an additional 259,477 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Granite Construction by 95.2% in the first quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 454,501 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $34,269,000 after acquiring an additional 221,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 241.7% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 305,013 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $28,522,000 after acquiring an additional 215,752 shares in the last quarter.

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.