Expect Equity LLC Invests $934,000 in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Expect Equity LLC purchased a new position in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 10,644 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $934,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Granite Construction by 35.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,131,419 shares of the construction company's stock worth $99,237,000 after buying an additional 294,200 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Granite Construction during the fourth quarter worth $92,154,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,046,000. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 584,398 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $51,813,000 after buying an additional 15,597 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 580,584 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $50,923,000 after buying an additional 105,420 shares during the period.

Insider Activity

In other Granite Construction news, SVP Brian R. Dowd sold 2,025 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.55, for a total transaction of $165,138.75. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,131,914. The trade was a 12.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 3,617 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total value of $290,734.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 132,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,639,579.08. This trade represents a 2.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,932 shares of company stock valued at $896,979 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

Granite Construction Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:GVA traded down $0.23 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $82.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 865,053 shares, compared to its average volume of 652,262. The firm has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.43 and a beta of 1.33. 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 1 year low of $58.23 and a 1 year high of $105.20. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $76.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.84.

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

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Granite Construction's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Granite Construction Company 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.