Legal & General Group Plc Sells 5,600 Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated $GVA

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its position in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 117,671 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 5,600 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.27% of Granite Construction worth $13,573,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in Granite Construction during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in Granite Construction by 94.6% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 436 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in Granite Construction during the 4th quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Quarry LP raised its position in Granite Construction by 1,417.6% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 516 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Staci M. Woolsey sold 1,523 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.84, for a total value of $182,516.32. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,954 shares in the company, valued at $2,271,447.36. This represents a 7.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 26,651 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total transaction of $3,148,016.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 114,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,569,743.72. This represents a 18.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 35,488 shares of company stock valued at $4,207,042. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Granite Construction Price Performance

Granite Construction stock opened at $136.82 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $128.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $5.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.43 and a beta of 1.32. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 12-month low of $87.72 and a 12-month high of $145.00.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.77) by $1.03. The company had revenue of $912.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.26 million. Granite Construction had a net margin of 3.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The company’s revenue was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.01 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on GVA. DA Davidson increased their target price on Granite Construction from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen cut Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Zacks Research raised shares of Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Granite Construction has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $149.67.

About Granite Construction

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.