Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Shares Acquired by Marshall Wace LLP

Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) by 78.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 115,920 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 50,978 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP owned 0.27% of Granite Construction worth $10,167,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GVA. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the 4th quarter worth approximately $92,154,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Granite Construction in the fourth quarter worth approximately $61,046,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Granite Construction during the fourth quarter worth $31,855,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Granite Construction by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 580,584 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $50,923,000 after purchasing an additional 105,420 shares during the period. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the 4th quarter valued at $5,847,000.

Granite Construction Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:GVA traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $79.87. 302,731 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 638,754. The stock has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.33 and a beta of 1.26. Granite Construction Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $53.54 and a fifty-two week high of $105.20. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $77.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.56.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The construction company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.19). Granite Construction had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 20.67%. The company had revenue of $977.30 million for the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Granite Construction's payout ratio is currently 21.05%.

Insider Activity at Granite Construction

In other Granite Construction news, COO James A. Radich sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, valued at $2,462,227.84. This trade represents a 8.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brian R. Dowd sold 2,025 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.55, for a total value of $165,138.75. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,131,914. This represents a 12.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.