Caxton Associates LP Acquires New Holdings in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Caxton Associates LP purchased a new position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,315 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $817,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the 3rd quarter worth about $283,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in Granite Construction by 195.8% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 13,730 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,089,000 after acquiring an additional 9,089 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Granite Construction by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,178 shares of the construction company's stock worth $191,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Granite Construction by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 19,946 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,749,000 after buying an additional 1,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Granite Construction in the 4th quarter valued at $545,000.

Granite Construction Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE GVA traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $82.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 865,053 shares, compared to its average volume of 651,324. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $76.94 and a 200 day moving average of $85.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.43 and a beta of 1.33. Granite Construction Incorporated has a twelve month low of $58.23 and a twelve month high of $105.20. 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 (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The construction company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.43) by $0.44. The company had revenue of $699.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $706.15 million. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 20.67% and a net margin of 3.15%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Granite Construction's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Granite Construction from $69.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO James A. Radich sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.14, for a total transaction of $217,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 28,256 shares in the company, valued at $2,462,227.84. This represents a 8.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 2,790 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.02, for a total value of $223,255.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 136,384 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,913,447.68. This represents a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 10,932 shares of company stock worth $896,979. Company insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

About Granite Construction

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.