Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) CFO Sells $182,516.32 in Stock

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) CFO Staci Woolsey sold 1,523 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 18,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,271,447.36. This trade represents a 7.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Granite Construction Price Performance

Shares of GVA opened at $116.24 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.76 and a beta of 1.30. Granite Construction Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $69.08 and a fifty-two week high of $137.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $126.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $114.86.

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

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Institutional Trading of Granite Construction

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GVA. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,602,382 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $175,701,000 after acquiring an additional 131,360 shares in the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC raised its position in shares of Granite Construction by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 1,370,029 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $128,111,000 after acquiring an additional 171,904 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP raised its position in shares of Granite Construction by 569.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 1,339,818 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $151,064,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139,818 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Granite Construction by 4.0% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,221,031 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $114,179,000 after purchasing an additional 46,552 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Granite Construction by 0.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,037,916 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $97,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,979 shares in the last quarter.

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.