Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $127.97 Million Holdings in Granite Construction Incorporated $GVA

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 0.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,067,545 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,327 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 2.44% of Granite Construction worth $127,969,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GVA. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 73.2% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 21,379 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,612,000 after buying an additional 9,038 shares in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association bought a new position in Granite Construction in the 1st quarter valued at about $207,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 21.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 168,859 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $12,732,000 after purchasing an additional 29,428 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 2,423.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 89,882 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,405,000 after purchasing an additional 86,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in Granite Construction during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $229,000.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John Timothy Romer bought 375 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $143.65 per share, with a total value of $53,868.75. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,363.65. The trade was a 15.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Bradley Jay Williams sold 6,734 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.00, for a total transaction of $949,494.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 7,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $992,781. The trade was a 48.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GVA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Granite Construction from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Granite Construction from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Zacks Research upgraded Granite Construction to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Granite Construction in a report on Thursday, May 28th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $139.00 target price (down from $141.00) on shares of Granite Construction in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $161.00.

Granite Construction Stock Performance

Shares of GVA opened at $125.60 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $5.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.19 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $137.73 and a 200 day moving average of $130.61. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 12 month low of $89.80 and a 12 month high of $162.08.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.77) by $1.03. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 24.90% and a net margin of 3.99%.The business had revenue of $912.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $782.26 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.01 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 30.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 6.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.99%.

Granite Construction Profile

Granite Construction Inc is a publicly traded heavy civil contractor and construction materials producer based in Watsonville, California. The company specializes in delivering large-scale infrastructure projects for government and private clients, focusing on the development, rehabilitation and maintenance of transportation, water resource and industrial facilities. Its turnkey solutions span the full project lifecycle, from preconstruction and design-build to construction management and facilities maintenance.

In its construction segment, Granite undertakes highway and bridge building, airport runway and taxiway construction, marine terminal and port improvements, dam and reservoir projects, transit systems and underground utilities.