Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Makes New Investment in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 10,182 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $518,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Granite Construction during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 320.6% during the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 673 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. Macquarie Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the 1st quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 5,075.0% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,242 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 1,218 shares in the last quarter.

Granite Construction Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE GVA opened at $54.25 on Wednesday. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 12-month low of $33.74 and a 12-month high of $57.93. The company has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.38 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $53.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.60.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The construction company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.02). Granite Construction had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 14.15%. The company had revenue of $933.70 million during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Louis E. Caldera sold 1,263 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $63,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,528 shares in the company, valued at $426,400. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on GVA shares. DA Davidson upped their target price on Granite Construction from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Granite Construction from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday.

Granite Construction Company 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.