Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Invests $290,000 in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,700 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GVA. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the third quarter valued at $71,000. Caxton Associates LP acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the third quarter valued at $241,000. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the third quarter valued at $279,000. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the third quarter valued at $308,000.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Louis E. Caldera sold 1,263 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $63,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $426,400. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Granite Construction Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE GVA opened at $53.61 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.54 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $53.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.07. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 1 year low of $33.74 and a 1 year high of $57.93.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The construction company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $933.70 million for the quarter. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 1.24%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GVA. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Granite Construction from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Granite Construction from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th.

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.