Insider Buying: Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Director Purchases 375 Shares of Stock

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Director John Timothy Romer bought 375 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $143.65 per share, for a total transaction of $53,868.75. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 2,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,363.65. This represents a 15.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

John Timothy Romer also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, June 12th, John Timothy Romer bought 375 shares of Granite Construction stock. The stock was purchased at an average price of $141.79 per share, for a total transaction of $53,171.25.

Granite Construction Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE GVA traded up $0.49 on Monday, reaching $141.09. The stock had a trading volume of 513,892 shares, compared to its average volume of 667,706. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $132.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $125.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 1 year low of $88.17 and a 1 year high of $145.00. The company has a market capitalization of $6.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.66 and a beta of 1.32.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last issued 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. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 3.99%.The firm had revenue of $912.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $782.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.01 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is 14.99%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Granite Construction

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,602,382 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $175,701,000 after purchasing an additional 131,360 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 52.8% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,397,573 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $167,541,000 after purchasing an additional 483,080 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP lifted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 569.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 1,339,818 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $151,064,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139,818 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,067,545 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $127,969,000 after purchasing an additional 4,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 861,770 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $94,493,000 after purchasing an additional 94,902 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GVA. Zacks Research upgraded Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Oppenheimer began coverage on Granite Construction in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Granite Construction from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.67.

Granite Construction Company Profile

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.