Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Shares Sold by UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lessened its position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) by 63.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 139,431 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 238,165 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned 0.32% of Granite Construction worth $12,229,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in Granite Construction by 97.0% in the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 41,455 shares of the construction company's stock worth $3,636,000 after purchasing an additional 20,415 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP bought a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $992,000. Teza Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 71.4% during the fourth quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 6,461 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $567,000 after buying an additional 2,691 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 20,000 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,754,000 after buying an additional 1,369 shares during the period. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the fourth quarter worth approximately $293,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 2,790 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.02, for a total value of $223,255.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 136,384 shares in the company, valued at $10,913,447.68. The trade was a 2.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brian R. Dowd sold 2,025 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.76, for a total transaction of $185,814.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 18,819 shares in the company, 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 ninety days, insiders sold 8,432 shares of company stock worth $699,804. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Granite Construction Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE GVA traded up $0.62 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $88.87. The company had a trading volume of 33,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 658,745. The stock has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.98 and a beta of 1.33. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 52 week low of $58.23 and a 52 week high of $105.20. The business's 50-day moving average is $80.92 and its 200-day moving average is $85.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by $0.44. The company had revenue of $699.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $706.15 million. Granite Construction had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 20.67%. Granite Construction's revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Granite Construction's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

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.