Short Interest in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Rises By 5.3%

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,530,000 shares, an increase of 5.3% from the September 30th total of 4,300,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 601,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.5 days. Approximately 10.5% of the company's shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Granite Construction from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Granite Construction

In related news, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 21,943 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,518,894.46. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Granite Construction

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GVA. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in Granite Construction during the second quarter worth $33,000. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC lifted its stake in Granite Construction by 30.8% in the first quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 850 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 66.4% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 902 shares of the construction company's stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Granite Construction during the second quarter worth approximately $107,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 82.5% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the construction company's stock worth $159,000 after acquiring an additional 907 shares during the last quarter.

Granite Construction Trading Up 2.4 %

GVA stock traded up $2.01 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $84.07. 1,806,814 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 528,234. Granite Construction has a one year low of $36.74 and a one year high of $85.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.68. The company has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a PE ratio of 46.83 and a beta of 1.38. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $78.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.01.

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

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Granite Construction's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.89%.

About Granite Construction

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.