Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,240,000 shares, a drop of 6.4% from the October 15th total of 4,530,000 shares. Currently, 9.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 636,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.7 days.

Granite Construction Price Performance

Shares of GVA stock opened at $97.48 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.46. Granite Construction has a one year low of $43.92 and a one year high of $99.32. The company has a market capitalization of $4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.72 and a beta of 1.39.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The construction company reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.46). Granite Construction had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 2.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Granite Construction will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is 23.85%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 99.3% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,569,319 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $159,221,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280,288 shares in the last quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Granite Construction during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,143,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 86.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 363,816 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $28,843,000 after acquiring an additional 168,673 shares during the period. Brightline Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the 3rd quarter valued at $11,971,000. Finally, Highbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the 2nd quarter worth $4,513,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Granite Construction from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th.

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.