SG Americas Securities LLC Boosts Holdings in Granite Construction Incorporated $GVA

SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 2.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 197,987 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,365 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Granite Construction were worth $23,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 512.8% in the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 239 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the 4th quarter valued at about $56,000. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of 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 period.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 26,651 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 114,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,569,743.72. This trade represents a 18.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Bradley Jay Williams sold 6,734 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $949,494.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 7,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $992,781. This trade represents a 48.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 40,885 shares of company stock valued at $5,155,010. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GVA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Weiss Ratings cut Granite Construction from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Oppenheimer started coverage on Granite Construction in a report on Thursday, May 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $149.67.

Granite Construction Price Performance

Shares of GVA opened at $151.51 on Thursday. Granite Construction Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $89.80 and a fifty-two week high of $155.22. The company has a market capitalization of $6.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.66 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $135.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $127.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.77) by $1.03. The firm had revenue of $912.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.26 million. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 3.99%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.01 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 6.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.99%.

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.