Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Takes $7.60 Million Position in Granite Construction Incorporated $GVA

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 48,064 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,598,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd grew its holdings in Granite Construction by 512.8% during the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 239 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its position in Granite Construction by 30.9% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 381 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Torren Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the fourth quarter valued at $56,000. Quarry LP raised its stake 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 valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the third quarter worth $77,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on GVA shares. Stephens began coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a research note on Friday, June 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings raised Granite Construction from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Zacks Research upgraded Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Granite Construction from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Granite Construction has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Granite Construction news, Director John Timothy Romer acquired 375 shares of the company’s 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 purchase, the director directly owned 2,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $402,363.65. This trade represents a 15.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Carlos M. Hernandez bought 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $123.99 per share, for a total transaction of $49,596.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,033 shares in the company, valued at $624,041.67. This represents a 8.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders bought 1,150 shares of company stock valued at $156,636. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Granite Construction Trading Up 1.7%

NYSE:GVA opened at $124.06 on Thursday. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 52 week low of $97.26 and a 52 week high of $162.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $131.74 and its 200-day moving average is $130.90. The firm has a market cap of $5.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.78 and a beta of 1.33.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The construction company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.25 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Granite Construction had a positive return on equity of 27.83% and a negative net margin of 3.32%.Granite Construction’s quarterly revenue was up 28.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.42 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 6.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -12.06%.

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.