Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Buys 223 Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,055 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Granite Construction were worth $531,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Granite Construction in the fourth quarter valued at about $92,154,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,046,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Granite Construction during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,963,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Granite Construction during the 4th quarter valued at $3,170,000. Finally, Wolverine Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Granite Construction in the 4th quarter valued at $2,947,000.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Granite Construction Price Performance

Granite Construction stock opened at $71.85 on Friday. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 52 week low of $52.99 and a 52 week high of $105.20. The firm has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.09 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.66. The business’s fifty day moving average is $80.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.22.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The construction company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $977.30 million for the quarter. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 20.67% and a net margin of 3.15%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.82 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.05%.

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.