Connable Office Inc. Cuts Position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Connable Office Inc. lessened its position in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,284 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 653 shares during the quarter. Connable Office Inc.’s holdings in Granite Construction were worth $260,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GVA. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 99.3% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,569,319 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $159,221,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280,288 shares during the period. Hood River Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,143,000. Highbridge Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,513,000. Aristeia Capital L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,513,000. Finally, Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 177.6% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 113,514 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,485,000 after purchasing an additional 72,621 shares during the period.

Granite Construction Price Performance

GVA opened at $95.61 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $83.08 and a 200 day moving average of $71.17. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 52-week low of $43.92 and a 52-week high of $99.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.86 and a beta of 1.39.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The construction company reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by ($0.46). Granite Construction had a net margin of 2.80% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.69 EPS. Granite Construction’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Granite Construction from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th.

About Granite Construction

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.