Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 901 Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund decreased its holdings in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,819 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 901 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.06% of Granite Construction worth $1,262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new stake in Granite Construction in the 3rd quarter valued at $8,554,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Granite Construction by 15.5% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 397,219 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $15,102,000 after purchasing an additional 53,438 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 989,161 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $37,608,000 after buying an additional 41,575 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 391,957 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $14,902,000 after buying an additional 31,438 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Granite Construction in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,119,000.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Louis E. Caldera sold 1,263 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $63,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $426,400. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Granite Construction Price Performance

Shares of Granite Construction stock opened at $55.53 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.07 and a beta of 1.46. Granite Construction Incorporated has a twelve month low of $33.74 and a twelve month high of $57.93. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.46.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The construction company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $933.70 million during the quarter. Granite Construction had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 14.15%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. Analysts forecast that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on GVA. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Granite Construction from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Granite Construction from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th.

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.