Michael Tatusko Sells 7,500 Shares of Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Stock

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) SVP Michael Tatusko sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total value of $1,057,500.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 29,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,199,967. This represents a 20.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Granite Construction Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GVA traded down $1.48 on Monday, hitting $139.87. The company had a trading volume of 573,248 shares, compared to its average volume of 666,839. The stock has a market cap of $6.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.31 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $130.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $123.80. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 1-year low of $87.72 and a 1-year high of $145.00. 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 (NYSE:GVA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.77) by $1.03. The company had revenue of $912.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.26 million. Granite Construction had a net margin of 3.99% and a return on equity of 24.90%. Granite Construction’s quarterly revenue was up 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.01 EPS. Analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Granite Construction

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Granite Construction by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,602,382 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $175,701,000 after purchasing an additional 131,360 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Granite Construction by 52.8% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,397,573 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $167,541,000 after purchasing an additional 483,080 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP raised its position in 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 raised its position in 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 holdings in 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 buying an additional 94,902 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on GVA. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Granite Construction from $130.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Granite Construction from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.67.

About Granite Construction

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.