The Goldman Sachs Group Boosts Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Price Target to $70.00

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) had its target price increased by The Goldman Sachs Group from $61.00 to $70.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sell rating on the construction company’s stock.

Granite Construction Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of GVA stock opened at $81.79 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Granite Construction has a 12-month low of $33.74 and a 12-month high of $82.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 138.63 and a beta of 1.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $74.92 and its 200 day moving average is $65.59.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The construction company reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.41. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 17.82% and a net margin of 2.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Granite Construction will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio is currently 88.14%.

Insider Transactions at Granite Construction

In other news, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.22, for a total value of $346,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,943 shares in the company, valued at $1,518,894.46. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GVA. Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Granite Construction by 44.0% during the first quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 108,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,170,000 after purchasing an additional 33,000 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in Granite Construction in the 1st quarter worth $607,000. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in Granite Construction by 637.4% in the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 936,858 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $53,523,000 after buying an additional 809,803 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank raised its holdings in Granite Construction by 177.6% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 113,514 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,485,000 after acquiring an additional 72,621 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 296.6% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,138 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $751,000 after acquiring an additional 9,825 shares in the last quarter.

Granite Construction Company Profile

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.