Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 1.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 17,513 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 210 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Granite Construction were worth $1,388,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GVA. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 296.6% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,138 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $751,000 after purchasing an additional 9,825 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Granite Construction by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 14,663 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $838,000 after acquiring an additional 1,543 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 51.0% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 152,730 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,725,000 after acquiring an additional 51,597 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,891 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $508,000 after acquiring an additional 613 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the first quarter worth about $607,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Granite Construction Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE GVA opened at $95.75 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $82.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.90. Granite Construction Incorporated has a twelve month low of $43.92 and a twelve month high of $99.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $4.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.92 and a beta of 1.39.

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

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

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

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.