Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. Trims Stake in Granite Construction Incorporated $GVA

Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,177,011 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 16,565 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. owned 4.98% of Granite Construction worth $164,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GVA. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Granite Construction by 35.1% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,131,419 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $99,237,000 after acquiring an additional 294,200 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Granite Construction in the 1st quarter worth about $21,966,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Granite Construction by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,651,676 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $232,579,000 after acquiring an additional 263,302 shares in the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Granite Construction by 1,058.0% in the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 214,777 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $18,838,000 after acquiring an additional 196,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Granite Construction by 7,509.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 165,729 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $12,496,000 after acquiring an additional 163,551 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GVA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Granite Construction from $69.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Granite Construction news, SVP Brian R. Dowd sold 2,025 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.76, for a total value of $185,814.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 18,819 shares in the company, valued at $1,726,831.44. This trade represents a 9.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Granite Construction Price Performance

NYSE GVA opened at $109.42 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 1.57. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $94.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.06. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 52-week low of $69.08 and a 52-week high of $111.43. The company has a market cap of $4.79 billion, a PE ratio of 35.76 and a beta of 1.39.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The construction company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.16. Granite Construction had a net margin of 3.89% and a return on equity of 21.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.73 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.99%.

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.