Crestline Management LP Takes $506,000 Position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Crestline Management LP acquired a new position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,770 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $506,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 35.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,131,419 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $99,237,000 after acquiring an additional 294,200 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Granite Construction during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $92,154,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,046,000. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 584,398 shares of the construction company's stock worth $51,813,000 after acquiring an additional 15,597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Granite Construction by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 580,584 shares of the construction company's stock worth $50,923,000 after acquiring an additional 105,420 shares during the last quarter.

Granite Construction Price Performance

GVA stock traded up $0.27 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $85.89. 523,299 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 651,897. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 52 week low of $58.23 and a 52 week high of $105.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 1.66. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.77 and a beta of 1.33.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The construction company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by $0.44. The company had revenue of $699.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $706.15 million. Granite Construction had a return on equity of 20.67% and a net margin of 3.15%. The business's revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 3,617 shares of Granite Construction stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $290,734.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 132,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,639,579.08. This trade represents a 2.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO James A. Radich sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,932 shares of company stock valued at $896,979. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.