Hennessy Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 696,000 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,046,000. Granite Construction makes up 1.8% of Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GVA. Choreo LLC bought a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the 2nd quarter worth $223,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Granite Construction by 12.6% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 5,711 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $354,000 after purchasing an additional 639 shares during the last quarter. Highbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,513,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in Granite Construction by 32.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 19,400 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,202,000 after buying an additional 4,737 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hood River Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Granite Construction in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,143,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Granite Construction from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th.

Granite Construction Stock Performance

NYSE GVA opened at $92.18 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 12-month low of $43.92 and a 12-month high of $105.20. The firm has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.28 and a beta of 1.43.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The construction company reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by ($0.46). Granite Construction had a net margin of 2.80% and a return on equity of 19.04%. The business had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is 23.85%.

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.