Fisher Asset Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Fisher Asset Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 194,649 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 13,125 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned about 0.44% of Granite Construction worth $9,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the 4th quarter worth about $13,755,000. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 1,388,044 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $70,596,000 after purchasing an additional 246,154 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the 3rd quarter worth about $8,554,000. Wasatch Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the 4th quarter worth about $6,462,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 533,324 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $27,125,000 after purchasing an additional 71,099 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling at Granite Construction

In other Granite Construction news, SVP Bradley Jay Williams sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.21, for a total transaction of $45,907.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,423 shares in the company, valued at approximately $454,361.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Granite Construction Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of Granite Construction stock opened at $62.85 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a 50-day moving average of $59.44 and a 200 day moving average of $53.57. The firm has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.53 and a beta of 1.46. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 1 year low of $33.74 and a 1 year high of $64.33.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The construction company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.49) by $0.28. The business had revenue of $672.28 million during the quarter. Granite Construction had a net margin of 0.98% and a return on equity of 14.91%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio is currently 88.14%.

Granite Construction Company Profile

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.