Stifel Financial Corp Sells 2,296 Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Stifel Financial Corp cut its stake in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 27.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,050 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 2,296 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Granite Construction were worth $480,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 9,631 shares in the last quarter. Aristeia Capital L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Granite Construction in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,513,000. Highbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Granite Construction in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,513,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Granite Construction during the third quarter worth $4,163,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LP acquired a new stake in Granite Construction in the second quarter valued at approximately $503,000.

Granite Construction Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GVA opened at $89.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a PE ratio of 40.87 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $92.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.16. Granite Construction Incorporated has a twelve month low of $43.92 and a twelve month high of $105.20.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.69 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective 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 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.