Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Short Interest Down 33.1% in February

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 3,388,908 shares, a decline of 33.1% from the February 12th total of 5,067,474 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 629,947 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.4 days. Approximately 7.9% of the company’s shares are short sold. Approximately 7.9% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 629,947 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on GVA shares. Wall Street Zen raised Granite Construction from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Zacks Research raised Granite Construction from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Granite Construction from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Granite Construction from $109.00 to $124.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Granite Construction in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Granite Construction currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $139.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Granite Construction

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,978 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $575,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Granite Construction in the fourth quarter worth approximately $312,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Granite Construction during the fourth quarter worth $313,000. SummitTX Capital L.P. boosted its position in Granite Construction by 67.0% during the 4th quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. now owns 38,931 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,491,000 after acquiring an additional 15,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL increased its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 26.3% in the 4th quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 169,871 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $19,595,000 after acquiring an additional 35,341 shares during the period.

Granite Construction Trading Down 2.2%

NYSE:GVA traded down $2.70 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $120.97. The stock had a trading volume of 319,128 shares, compared to its average volume of 670,550. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $126.18 and a 200 day moving average of $114.34. The company has a market capitalization of $5.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.05 and a beta of 1.30. Granite Construction has a one year low of $69.08 and a one year high of $137.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The construction company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 24.10% and a net margin of 4.36%.The business had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.23 EPS. Granite Construction’s revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Granite Construction will post 5.49 EPS for the current year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.21%.

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.