Stephens Inc. AR Takes $369,000 Position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Stephens Inc. AR bought a new stake in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,659 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. lifted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 38,191 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,365,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,309 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $763,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC raised its stake in Granite Construction by 7.2% during the second quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 4,553 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Granite Construction by 66.4% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 902 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Granite Construction by 1.8% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 22,200 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,376,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter.

Granite Construction Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:GVA opened at $95.79 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.94 and a beta of 1.39. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 12-month low of $43.92 and a 12-month high of $97.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The construction company reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.46). Granite Construction had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 2.80%. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Granite Construction from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th.

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.