Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Position Raised by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) by 22.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,443 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,443 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Granite Construction worth $4,512,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GVA. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new stake in Granite Construction in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 68.4% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 325 shares of the construction company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 112.8% during the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 900 shares of the construction company's stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the 4th quarter worth about $89,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Granite Construction by 193.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,345 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 887 shares during the period.

Granite Construction Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of GVA stock traded up $0.70 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $87.03. 511,864 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 653,850. Granite Construction Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $58.23 and a fifty-two week high of $105.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.66. The company has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.24 and a beta of 1.33. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $78.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.95.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The construction company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $699.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $706.15 million. The company's revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current 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. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Granite Construction's payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Transactions at Granite Construction

In other Granite Construction news, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 2,790 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.02, for a total value of $223,255.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 136,384 shares of the company's stock, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO James A. Radich sold 2,500 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total transaction of $217,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 28,256 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,462,227.84. This represents a 8.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 10,932 shares of company stock valued at $896,979. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.