KBC Group NV Raises Position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

KBC Group NV raised its stake in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) by 346.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,823 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,072 shares during the period. KBC Group NV's holdings in Granite Construction were worth $590,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GVA. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 16.6% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,101 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $385,000 after buying an additional 725 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the fourth quarter valued at $1,465,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 16.6% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 64,952 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $4,897,000 after buying an additional 9,255 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 40.5% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 781 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 35.2% in 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 buying an additional 6,852 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Activity at Granite Construction

In other news, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 3,617 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 132,366 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,639,579.08. The trade was a 2.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brian R. Dowd sold 2,025 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.76, for a total value of $185,814.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 18,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,726,831.44. This trade represents a 9.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,432 shares of company stock valued at $699,804 over the last quarter. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Granite Construction Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE:GVA traded down $0.85 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $92.86. The company had a trading volume of 540,299 shares, compared to its average volume of 648,714. Granite Construction Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $58.23 and a fifty-two week high of $105.20. The business's fifty day moving average is $88.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 1.57. The firm has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.69 and a beta of 1.32.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 21.40% and a net margin of 3.07%. The company had revenue of $699.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $706.15 million. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid 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 0.56%. Granite Construction's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.