Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Short Interest Down 6.4% in October

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

Granite Construction Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Granite Construction stock traded up $0.38 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $95.99. The company had a trading volume of 6,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 538,999. The firm has a market cap of $4.20 billion, a PE ratio of 43.86 and a beta of 1.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $83.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.40. 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 fifty-two week low of $43.92 and a fifty-two week high of $99.32.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.69 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Granite Construction will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is currently 23.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Institutional Trading of Granite Construction

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in Granite Construction during the second quarter worth $33,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Granite Construction by 66.4% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 902 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $107,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Granite Construction by 82.5% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,007 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $159,000 after buying an additional 907 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Granite Construction during the 3rd quarter valued at $203,000.

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.