Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in Granite Construction Incorporated $GVA

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 19,300 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,314,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GVA. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd increased its holdings in Granite Construction by 512.8% in the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 239 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Granite Construction in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the fourth quarter valued at about $56,000. Finally, Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 1,417.6% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 516 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer started coverage on Granite Construction in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Granite Construction from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Stephens started coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a research note on Friday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $180.00 price target for the company. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Granite Construction presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $157.25.

Granite Construction Stock Performance

GVA stock opened at $158.89 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a PE ratio of 45.79 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $137.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $128.39. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 1-year low of $89.80 and a 1-year high of $162.08.

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

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is 14.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.