Deutsche Bank AG Increases Stock Position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) by 49.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,344 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 12,976 shares during the quarter. Deutsche Bank AG owned approximately 0.09% of Granite Construction worth $3,451,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Granite Construction by 35.1% in the 4th 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 during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Granite Construction in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $92,154,000. Boston Partners increased its position in Granite Construction by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 584,398 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $51,813,000 after acquiring an additional 15,597 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Granite Construction by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 580,584 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $50,923,000 after acquiring an additional 105,420 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Granite Construction by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 579,384 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $50,818,000 after acquiring an additional 87,783 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Transactions at Granite Construction

In other news, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 3,617 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were 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 $10,639,579.08. This represents a 2.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brian R. Dowd sold 2,025 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.55, for a total transaction of $165,138.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,131,914. This trade represents a 12.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,432 shares of company stock worth $679,129 over the last three months. 0.81% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Granite Construction Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of GVA traded up $1.86 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $88.02. 515,734 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 656,895. Granite Construction Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $58.23 and a fifty-two week high of $105.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.56. The business has a 50-day moving average of $79.66 and a 200-day moving average of $85.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.64 and a beta of 1.33.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The construction company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by $0.44. Granite Construction had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 20.67%. The company had revenue of $699.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $706.15 million. Granite Construction's revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 EPS for the current year.

Granite Construction Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Granite Construction's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.67%.

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.