Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases 9,443 Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) by 22.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 51,443 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring 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.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Granite Construction by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 23,747 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $2,083,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC raised its holdings in Granite Construction by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 12,408 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,088,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its holdings in Granite Construction by 68.4% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 325 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 10,376 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $910,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,299 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 2,790 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.02, for a total transaction of $223,255.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 136,384 shares in the company, valued at $10,913,447.68. This represents a 2.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO James A. Radich sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total value of $217,850.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 28,256 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,462,227.84. This trade represents a 8.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,932 shares of company stock worth $896,979 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

Granite Construction Price Performance

Shares of GVA stock traded up $0.70 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $87.03. The company had a trading volume of 511,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 650,378. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 12 month low of $58.23 and a 12 month high of $105.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.24 and a beta of 1.33. The firm's fifty day moving average is $77.76 and its 200 day moving average is $85.88. 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 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. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 20.67% and a net margin of 3.15%. The company had revenue of $699.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $706.15 million. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors 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 yield of 0.60%. 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.