State of Wyoming Purchases Shares of 4,722 Granite Construction Incorporated $GVA

State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,722 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $545,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Granite Construction by 8.9% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,602,382 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $175,701,000 after acquiring an additional 131,360 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP increased its stake in Granite Construction by 569.9% in the third quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 1,339,818 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $151,064,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139,818 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in Granite Construction by 12.4% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 861,770 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $94,493,000 after purchasing an additional 94,902 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its stake in Granite Construction by 262.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 647,589 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $74,699,000 after purchasing an additional 469,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cartenna Capital LP increased its stake in Granite Construction by 22.0% in the third quarter. Cartenna Capital LP now owns 610,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $66,886,000 after purchasing an additional 110,000 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Staci M. Woolsey sold 1,523 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.84, for a total transaction of $182,516.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 18,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,271,447.36. The trade was a 7.44% 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, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 26,651 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.12, for a total transaction of $3,148,016.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 114,881 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,569,743.72. The trade was a 18.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 35,488 shares of company stock valued at $4,207,042. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on GVA. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Granite Construction from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Zacks Research raised shares of Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.67.

Granite Construction Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:GVA opened at $141.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $130.28 and a 200-day moving average of $123.65. The company has a market cap of $6.19 billion, a PE ratio of 40.75 and a beta of 1.32. Granite Construction Incorporated has a one year low of $87.72 and a one year high of $145.00.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.77) by $1.03. The company had revenue of $912.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.26 million. Granite Construction had a net margin of 3.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.01 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is presently 14.99%.

Granite Construction Company Profile

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.