Fifth Third Bancorp Has $7.91 Million Holdings in Granite Construction Incorporated $GVA

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 22,963.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 65,961 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 65,675 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Granite Construction were worth $7,907,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd boosted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 512.8% during the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 239 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Granite Construction in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Root Financial Partners LLC raised 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 buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in Granite Construction in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in Granite Construction in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $56,000.

Insider Transactions at Granite Construction

In related news, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,057,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 29,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,199,967. This trade represents a 20.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John Timothy Romer purchased 375 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $143.65 per share, with a total value of $53,868.75. Following the acquisition, 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 position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GVA has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Granite Construction from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a research report on Friday, June 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. Zacks Research raised shares of Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $139.00 price target (down from $141.00) on shares of Granite Construction in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Granite Construction has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $161.00.

Granite Construction Stock Up 2.9%

NYSE:GVA opened at $124.42 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.86 and a beta of 1.29. Granite Construction Incorporated has a twelve month low of $89.80 and a twelve month high of $162.08. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $140.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $130.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.26 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.01 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 6.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.99%.

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.