Franklin Resources Inc. Lowers Holdings in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Franklin Resources Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) by 8.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 628,470 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 59,447 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 1.44% of Granite Construction worth $55,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GVA. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $89,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Granite Construction by 193.7% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,345 shares of the construction company's stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 887 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,751 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $154,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Granite Construction during the 3rd quarter valued at about $203,000.

Granite Construction Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:GVA traded down $1.21 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $76.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 159,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 625,631. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.56. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $79.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.05. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 52 week low of $52.99 and a 52 week high of $105.20. The company has a market capitalization of $3.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.00 and a beta of 1.26.

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Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 return on equity of 20.67% and a net margin of 3.15%. The company had revenue of $977.30 million for the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 EPS for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Granite Construction

In other Granite Construction news, COO James A. Radich sold 2,500 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 28,256 shares of the company's stock, 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 the SEC website. Also, SVP Brian R. Dowd sold 2,025 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.55, for a total transaction of $165,138.75. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,131,914. This trade 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.