Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) Director Purchases $53,171.25 in Stock

Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Director John Timothy Romer purchased 375 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $141.79 per share, with a total value of $53,171.25. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 2,426 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $343,982.54. This trade represents a 18.28% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

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

• On Monday, June 15th, John Timothy Romer purchased 375 shares of Granite Construction stock. The shares were acquired at an average price of $143.65 per share, with a total value of $53,868.75.

Granite Construction Stock Performance

Granite Construction stock traded up $0.49 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $141.09. 513,892 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 667,706. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 52 week low of $88.17 and a 52 week high of $145.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $6.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.66 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $132.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.07.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $912.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.01 earnings per share. Granite Construction’s quarterly revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued 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 yield of 0.4%. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Granite Construction

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 8.9% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,602,382 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $175,701,000 after buying an additional 131,360 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 483,080 shares during the period. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP raised its position in Granite Construction by 569.9% during the third quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 1,339,818 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $151,064,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139,818 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Granite Construction by 0.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,067,545 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $127,969,000 after purchasing an additional 4,327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in Granite Construction by 12.4% during the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 861,770 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $94,493,000 after purchasing an additional 94,902 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on GVA. Wall Street Zen cut Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. Weiss Ratings cut Granite Construction from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Granite Construction in a report on Thursday, May 28th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.