Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 12,297 Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 206,825 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 12,297 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.47% of Granite Construction worth $16,397,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GVA. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 4.8% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,919 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $615,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 4.5% in the second quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 65,697 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,071,000 after purchasing an additional 2,819 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 4.3% in the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 12,906 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $800,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Convergence Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the second quarter valued at about $745,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Granite Construction from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th.

Granite Construction Stock Performance

NYSE GVA opened at $89.10 on Friday. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 52-week low of $43.92 and a 52-week high of $105.20. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.16. 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 has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a PE ratio of 40.87 and a beta of 1.41.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The construction company reported $2.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.51 by ($0.46). Granite Construction had a return on equity of 19.04% and a net margin of 2.80%. The company had revenue of $1.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.69 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is 23.85%.

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.