Hennessy Advisors Inc. Has $47.80 Million Stock Position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 8.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 634,000 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 62,000 shares during the period. Granite Construction comprises about 1.6% of Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Granite Construction were worth $47,804,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Granite Construction during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,465,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in Granite Construction by 35.2% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 26,319 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,308,000 after purchasing an additional 6,852 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Granite Construction during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,855,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Granite Construction by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 51,443 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,443 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Granite Construction by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 69,359 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,083,000 after purchasing an additional 2,689 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Granite Construction from $69.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th.

Insider Activity at Granite Construction

In other Granite Construction news, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 2,790 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.02, for a total transaction of $223,255.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 136,384 shares in the company, valued at $10,913,447.68. This represents a 2.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brian R. Dowd sold 2,025 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.76, for a total value of $185,814.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 18,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,726,831.44. This represents a 9.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,432 shares of company stock worth $699,804. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

Granite Construction Stock Performance

GVA stock opened at $88.89 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a PE ratio of 35.99 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business has a 50 day moving average of $83.72 and a 200-day moving average of $85.17. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 12-month low of $58.23 and a 12-month high of $105.20.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The construction company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by $0.44. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 20.67% and a net margin of 3.15%. The company had revenue of $699.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $706.15 million. Granite Construction’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is 21.67%.

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.