Empower Advisory Group LLC Lowers Stock Position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Empower Advisory Group LLC lessened its stake in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 341,741 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 3,137 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC owned 0.78% of Granite Construction worth $27,093,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GVA. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 99.3% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,569,319 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $159,221,000 after buying an additional 1,280,288 shares during the period. Hood River Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Granite Construction during the second quarter worth about $29,143,000. Highbridge Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Granite Construction during the second quarter worth about $4,513,000. Aristeia Capital L.L.C. purchased a new position in Granite Construction during the second quarter worth about $4,513,000. Finally, Comerica Bank boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 177.6% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 113,514 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,485,000 after buying an additional 72,621 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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 research note on Wednesday, October 9th.

Granite Construction Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of GVA opened at $96.80 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.23 billion, a PE ratio of 44.40 and a beta of 1.39. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 1 year low of $43.92 and a 1 year high of $99.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.56. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $82.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.72.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The construction company reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.51 by ($0.46). The business had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 2.80%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.69 EPS. Analysts forecast that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio 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.