Heartland Advisors Inc. Has $6.46 Million Stake in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Key Points

• Heartland Advisors Inc. sold 5,618 shares of Granite Construction, reducing its stake by 6.2% to approximately 85,613 shares valued at $6.45 million.
• The stock price target for Granite Construction was raised from $69.00 to $76.00 by The Goldman Sachs Group, while maintaining a "sell" rating.
• Granite Construction recently reported $0.01 earnings per share, beating estimates significantly, with revenue for the quarter at $699.55 million.

Heartland Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) by 6.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,613 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 5,618 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of Granite Construction worth $6,455,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GVA. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the fourth quarter worth $31,855,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $99,237,000 after acquiring an additional 294,200 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,651,676 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $232,579,000 after acquiring an additional 263,302 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 1,058.0% during the fourth quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 214,777 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $18,838,000 after purchasing an additional 196,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 7,509.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 165,729 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $12,496,000 after purchasing an additional 163,551 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling at Granite Construction

In related news, SVP Brian R. Dowd sold 2,025 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.76, for a total value of $185,814.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 18,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,726,831.44. The trade was a 9.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

Granite Construction Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE GVA traded down $1.60 on Monday, hitting $94.34. 560,333 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 615,414. The company's 50 day moving average price is $91.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.31 and a beta of 1.32. Granite Construction Incorporated has a twelve month low of $65.13 and a twelve month high of $105.20.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The construction company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by $0.44. The firm had revenue of $699.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $706.15 million. Granite Construction had a net margin of 3.07% and a return on equity of 21.40%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Granite Construction's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Granite Construction from $69.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report 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.