GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases 163,551 Shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) by 7,509.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 165,729 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 163,551 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC owned 0.38% of Granite Construction worth $12,496,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,465,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in Granite Construction by 35.2% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 26,319 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $2,308,000 after acquiring an additional 6,852 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Granite Construction in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,855,000. Entropy Technologies LP lifted its stake in Granite Construction by 299.2% in the fourth quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 20,551 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,803,000 after acquiring an additional 15,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Granite Construction by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 51,443 shares of the construction company's stock worth $4,512,000 after acquiring an additional 9,443 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Granite Construction news, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 2,790 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 136,384 shares in the company, valued at $10,913,447.68. This trade represents a 2.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Brian R. Dowd sold 2,025 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.76, for a total transaction of $185,814.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 18,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,726,831.44. The trade was a 9.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,432 shares of company stock valued at $699,804. Insiders own 0.81% of the company's stock.

Granite Construction Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of GVA traded down $0.93 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $89.86. 524,041 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 654,626. 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 company has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a PE ratio of 36.38 and a beta of 1.34. The firm's 50 day moving average is $82.66 and its 200-day moving average is $85.27. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 52 week low of $58.23 and a 52 week high of $105.20.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The construction company reported $0.01 earnings per share (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 analysts' expectations of $706.15 million. The business's revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Granite Construction's dividend payout ratio is presently 21.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Granite Construction 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.