Everence Capital Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Everence Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,330 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Granite Construction were worth $643,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GVA. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 176.4% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 15,092 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,199,000 after acquiring an additional 9,631 shares during the period. Aristeia Capital L.L.C. bought a new position in Granite Construction during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,513,000. Highbridge Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Granite Construction in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,513,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Granite Construction in the third quarter worth about $4,163,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LP purchased a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the second quarter valued at approximately $503,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Granite Construction Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE GVA opened at $89.44 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.91 billion, a PE ratio of 41.03 and a beta of 1.41. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 12 month low of $43.92 and a 12 month high of $105.20. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $93.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $79.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The construction company reported $2.05 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.69 earnings per share. Granite Construction’s revenue was up 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.