Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Shares Sold by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) by 12.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 687,917 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 97,895 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 1.57% of Granite Construction worth $56,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GVA. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Granite Construction by 16.0% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 128,511 shares of the construction company's stock worth $7,964,000 after acquiring an additional 17,738 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 22,200 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,376,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the 2nd quarter worth $1,616,000. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. increased its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 0.5% during the second quarter. EFG Asset Management North America Corp. now owns 38,191 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $2,365,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the second quarter valued at about $275,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Granite Construction Stock Down 1.5 %

Granite Construction stock traded down $1.43 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $91.83. 641,696 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 542,033. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 12-month low of $43.92 and a 12-month high of $105.20. The business has a fifty day moving average of $91.32 and a 200 day moving average of $76.72. The firm has a market cap of $4.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.10 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.56.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The construction company reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.51 by ($0.46). Granite Construction had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 2.80%. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.69 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.57%. Granite Construction's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.85%.

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.