Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Increases Stake in Granite Construction Incorporated $GVA

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its holdings in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 35.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,353 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,163 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp owned 0.10% of Granite Construction worth $3,960,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Atria Investments Inc bought a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the 2nd quarter valued at about $301,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Granite Construction by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,037,916 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $97,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,979 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP lifted its position in Granite Construction by 34.6% in the second quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 34,210 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 8,793 shares during the last quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the second quarter valued at approximately $286,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the second quarter worth approximately $226,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on GVA. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Granite Construction in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $109.00 price objective for the company. DA Davidson raised their target price on Granite Construction from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 14th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Granite Construction from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Granite Construction currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.50.

Granite Construction Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GVA opened at $113.80 on Friday. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 1 year low of $69.08 and a 1 year high of $117.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.79 and a beta of 1.33. The company’s 50-day moving average is $105.84 and its 200 day moving average is $102.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The construction company reported $2.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.56 by $0.14. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 24.04% and a net margin of 4.31%.The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.05 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is currently 14.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Granite Construction news, Director Celeste Beeks Mastin sold 7,614 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.23, for a total value of $801,221.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,073,977.38. This represents a 42.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Granite Construction 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.