Insider Selling: Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) SVP Sells 6,734 Shares of Stock

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) SVP Bradley Jay Williams sold 6,734 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 transaction of $949,494.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,041 shares in the company, valued at $992,781. This trade represents a 48.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Granite Construction Stock Down 1.0%

NYSE GVA traded down $1.48 during trading on Monday, reaching $139.87. 573,248 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 666,839. 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 market cap of $6.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.31 and a beta of 1.32. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $130.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $123.80. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 12-month low of $87.72 and a 12-month 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.77) by $1.03. The business had revenue of $912.47 million for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.01 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GVA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a report on Thursday, May 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Granite Construction from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Granite Construction from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $149.67.

Institutional Trading of Granite Construction

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 25.0% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 52,374 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,279,000 after purchasing an additional 10,484 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Granite Construction in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,160,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 39.1% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 11,405 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,367,000 after purchasing an additional 3,207 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Granite Construction in the 1st quarter worth approximately $473,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Granite Construction in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,562,000.

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.