California State Teachers Retirement System Has $8.05 Million Stock Holdings in Granite Construction Incorporated $GVA

California State Teachers Retirement System reduced its stake in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) by 2.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 50,913 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 1,461 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.12% of Granite Construction worth $8,048,327 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Granite Construction by 52.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 483,080 shares during the last quarter. Hill City Capital LP acquired a new position in Granite Construction in the 2nd quarter valued at $175,508,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 4,327 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,405,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Granite Construction by 8.3% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 287,744 shares of the construction company's stock worth $34,495,000 after purchasing an additional 22,162 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Granite Construction to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Stephens assumed coverage on Granite Construction in a report on Friday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $180.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Granite Construction from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Granite Construction from $139.00 to $119.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Granite Construction from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $158.50.

Granite Construction Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of GVA traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $114.35. The stock had a trading volume of 161,183 shares, compared to its average volume of 719,293. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $123.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $129.68. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 1-year low of $97.26 and a 1-year high of $162.08. The company has a market cap of $5.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.53 and a beta of 1.32.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The construction company reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.25 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.41 billion. Granite Construction had a positive return on equity of 27.83% and a negative net margin of 3.32%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 28.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 6.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. Granite Construction's payout ratio is -12.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Carlos M. Hernandez bought 400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $123.99 per share, with a total value of $49,596.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $624,041.67. This trade represents a 8.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Granite Construction Profile

Granite Construction Incorporated NYSE: GVA is a civil infrastructure contractor that delivers construction and engineering services for public and private-sector customers. The company's work includes the development and rehabilitation of transportation infrastructure such as highways, roads, bridges, airports, rail systems and mass-transit facilities.

Granite also provides services for water and wastewater systems, dams, utilities and other complex infrastructure projects. Its capabilities include project development, construction management, design-build delivery, general contracting, excavation, paving and related construction services.

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