AQR Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,490 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 813 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Granite Construction were worth $712,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 639,849 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $32,543,000 after purchasing an additional 49,610 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,379 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $426,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Granite Construction during the 4th quarter valued at $525,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Granite Construction by 100.2% during the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 21,035 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,202,000 after purchasing an additional 10,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westend Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Granite Construction during the 1st quarter valued at $217,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael G. Tatusko sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.22, for a total transaction of $346,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 21,943 shares in the company, valued at $1,518,894.46. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Granite Construction Price Performance

NYSE GVA opened at $81.78 on Monday. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 1-year low of $33.74 and a 1-year high of $82.45. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $74.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 138.61 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.56.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The construction company reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.41. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 17.82% and a net margin of 2.35%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. Granite Construction’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. Granite Construction’s payout ratio is presently 88.14%.

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.