Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Shares Bought by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) by 22.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,443 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 9,443 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Granite Construction worth $4,512,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 6,569 shares of the construction company's stock worth $576,000 after buying an additional 3,017 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in Granite Construction by 97.0% in the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 41,455 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $3,636,000 after purchasing an additional 20,415 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new stake in Granite Construction in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $992,000. Teza Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Granite Construction by 71.4% in the 4th quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 6,461 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $567,000 after purchasing an additional 2,691 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming boosted its holdings in Granite Construction by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 20,000 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,754,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369 shares in the last quarter.

Granite Construction Stock Performance

GVA traded down $0.14 during trading on Friday, reaching $89.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 591,486 shares, compared to its average volume of 661,990. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 52-week low of $58.23 and a 52-week high of $105.20. The company's fifty day moving average price is $80.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.61. The company has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.23 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.66.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The construction company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.43) by $0.44. Granite Construction had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 20.67%. The company had revenue of $699.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $706.15 million. Granite Construction's revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Granite Construction's payout ratio is 21.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 3,617 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $290,734.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 132,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,639,579.08. This trade represents a 2.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brian R. Dowd sold 2,025 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.76, for a total transaction of $185,814.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 18,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,726,831.44. The trade was a 9.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,432 shares of company stock worth $699,804. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Granite Construction 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.