Granite Construction Incorporated $GVA Stock Holdings Lifted by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 3,388.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 192,622 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 187,100 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC owned about 0.44% of Granite Construction worth $22,219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 73.2% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,379 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,612,000 after acquiring an additional 9,038 shares during the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the first quarter valued at $207,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 21.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 168,859 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $12,732,000 after purchasing an additional 29,428 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the 2nd quarter valued at $226,000. Finally, Creative Planning increased its stake in Granite Construction by 40.8% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 17,345 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,622,000 after purchasing an additional 5,025 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Granite Construction from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Granite Construction from $109.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Granite Construction in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Granite Construction from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $139.50.

Insider Activity at Granite Construction

In other Granite Construction news, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 7,314 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.84, for a total transaction of $876,509.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 181,594 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,762,224.96. This trade represents a 3.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Staci M. Woolsey sold 1,523 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.84, for a total transaction of $182,516.32. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,271,447.36. This represents a 7.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Granite Construction Stock Down 2.4%

Shares of Granite Construction stock opened at $118.95 on Friday. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 1 year low of $69.08 and a 1 year high of $137.24. The company has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.50 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $126.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.17.

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

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Granite Construction’s 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.