Graham Capital Management L.P. Boosts Stock Position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Graham Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA) by 83.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,221 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 4,657 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Granite Construction were worth $896,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the fourth quarter worth about $214,000. Ethic Inc. grew its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 37.2% during the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 6,211 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $545,000 after acquiring an additional 1,685 shares during the last quarter. Expect Equity LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the fourth quarter worth about $934,000. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the fourth quarter worth about $328,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 49.2% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,344 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,451,000 after acquiring an additional 12,976 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Granite Construction news, SVP Brian R. Dowd sold 2,025 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.55, for a total value of $165,138.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,131,914. The trade was a 12.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 3,617 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total value of $290,734.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 132,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,639,579.08. The trade was a 2.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,932 shares of company stock valued at $896,979 over the last quarter. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Granite Construction from $69.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th.

Granite Construction Trading Up 1.8%

Granite Construction stock opened at $85.57 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 52 week low of $58.23 and a 52 week high of $105.20. The company has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.64 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $77.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.85.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The construction company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.43) by $0.44. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 20.67% and a net margin of 3.15%. The firm had revenue of $699.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $706.15 million. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 EPS for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Granite Construction’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

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.