Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Shares Bought by Nuveen Asset Management LLC

Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) by 128.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 279,504 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 157,047 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned 0.64% of Granite Construction worth $24,515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of GVA. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Granite Construction by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,651,676 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $232,579,000 after purchasing an additional 263,302 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake 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 during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Granite Construction during the fourth quarter valued at $92,154,000. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 584,398 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $51,813,000 after acquiring an additional 15,597 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 580,584 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $50,923,000 after acquiring an additional 105,420 shares during the period.

Insider Buying and Selling at Granite Construction

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 shares were sold at an average price of $81.55, for a total value of $165,138.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,131,914. The trade was a 12.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 3,617 shares of the firm's 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,432 shares of company stock valued at $679,129 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Granite Construction Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of GVA traded down $1.31 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $90.13. 71,247 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 658,506. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.56. The stock's 50-day moving average is $79.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.77. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 12 month low of $58.23 and a 12 month high of $105.20. The stock has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.49 and a beta of 1.33.

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 the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by $0.44. The company had revenue of $699.55 million for 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 revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 announced 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. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Granite Construction's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.