D.A. Davidson & CO. Lowers Holdings in Granite Construction Incorporated $GVA

D.A. Davidson & CO. lowered its position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 25.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,988 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 14,155 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Granite Construction were worth $4,914,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UBS Group AG raised its position in Granite Construction by 262.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 647,589 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $74,699,000 after purchasing an additional 469,079 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Granite Construction by 254.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 503,906 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $58,126,000 after buying an additional 361,741 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the 4th quarter worth $36,405,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 87.5% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 556,054 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $60,971,000 after buying an additional 259,477 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 241.7% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 305,013 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $28,522,000 after buying an additional 215,752 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GVA shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and set a $139.00 target price (down from $141.00) on shares of Granite Construction in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a report on Friday, June 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $180.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $161.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $1,057,500.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 29,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,199,967. This represents a 20.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John Timothy Romer purchased 375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $143.65 per share, with a total value of $53,868.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 2,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $402,363.65. The trade was a 15.46% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Granite Construction Stock Down 1.0%

NYSE:GVA opened at $124.41 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $139.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $130.22. 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 Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $89.80 and a fifty-two week high of $162.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.85 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is 14.99%.

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.