Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) Shares Sold by Squarepoint Ops LLC

Squarepoint Ops LLC cut its stake in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) by 50.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 74,166 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 76,429 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC owned approximately 0.17% of Granite Construction worth $4,596,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in Granite Construction during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC lifted its stake in Granite Construction by 30.8% during the first quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC now owns 850 shares of the construction company's stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in Granite Construction during the first quarter worth approximately $107,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Granite Construction during the second quarter worth approximately $107,000. Finally, Bard Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Granite Construction during the second quarter worth approximately $215,000.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.22, for a total value of $346,100.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 21,943 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,518,894.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Granite Construction from $55.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd.

Granite Construction Stock Performance

NYSE GVA traded up $0.09 on Tuesday, reaching $79.37. The stock had a trading volume of 1,017,502 shares, compared to its average volume of 510,988. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.68. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 12-month low of $33.74 and a 12-month high of $81.38. The business's 50-day moving average price is $72.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 134.46 and a beta of 1.39.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The construction company reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.41. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 17.82% and a net margin of 2.35%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. Granite Construction's payout ratio is currently 88.14%.

Granite Construction Company 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.