Ameriprise Financial Inc. Boosts Position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) by 10.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 535,318 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 51,520 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 1.22% of Granite Construction worth $46,959,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GVA. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Granite Construction during the fourth quarter worth $92,154,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Granite Construction during the fourth quarter worth $61,046,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Granite Construction during the fourth quarter worth $31,855,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 35.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,131,419 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $99,237,000 after acquiring an additional 294,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 1,058.0% in the fourth quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 214,777 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $18,838,000 after acquiring an additional 196,229 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Granite Construction from $69.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th.

Insider Activity at Granite Construction

In related news, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 2,790 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.02, for a total value of $223,255.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 136,384 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,913,447.68. This represents a 2.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO James A. Radich sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total value of $217,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 28,256 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,462,227.84. The trade was a 8.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,932 shares of company stock worth $896,979. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Granite Construction Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:GVA opened at $82.56 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 52-week low of $58.23 and a 52-week high of $105.20. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $76.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.84. The company has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.43 and a beta of 1.33.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The construction company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by $0.44. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 20.67% and a net margin of 3.15%. The business had revenue of $699.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $706.15 million. Granite Construction's quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Granite Construction's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.