Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 43,025 Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,874,003 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 43,025 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 11.15% of Granite Construction worth $427,499,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in Granite Construction by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 23,747 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,083,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 10,376 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $910,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,178 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $191,000 after buying an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,055 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $531,000 after buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 3,168 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 285 shares in the last quarter.

Granite Construction Stock Performance

Granite Construction stock opened at $76.28 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.88 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $81.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.39. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 52-week low of $52.99 and a 52-week high of $105.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.56.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The construction company reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $977.30 million for the quarter. Granite Construction had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 20.67%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is currently 21.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Granite Construction news, COO James A. Radich sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total transaction of $217,850.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 28,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,462,227.84. This represents a 8.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brian R. Dowd sold 2,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.55, for a total transaction of $165,138.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,131,914. This represents a 12.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.