Prudential Financial Inc. Reduces Position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its stake in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,436 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 610 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.10% of Granite Construction worth $3,897,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the 4th quarter valued at $89,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Granite Construction by 193.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,345 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 887 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 26.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,751 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,178 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $191,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the third quarter worth about $203,000.

Granite Construction Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GVA opened at $76.28 on Wednesday. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 52 week low of $52.99 and a 52 week high of $105.20. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $81.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.88 and a beta of 1.34.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The construction company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.19). Granite Construction had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 20.67%. The business had revenue of $977.30 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.82 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is currently 21.05%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO James A. Radich sold 2,500 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,462,227.84. This trade represents a 8.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brian R. Dowd sold 2,025 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.55, for a total value of $165,138.75. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,131,914. This represents a 12.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.81% of the company’s stock.

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.