Graham Capital Management L.P. Grows Stock Position in Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA)

Graham Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Granite Construction Incorporated (NYSE:GVA - Free Report) by 83.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,221 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,657 shares during the quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in Granite Construction were worth $896,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Granite Construction in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Quarry LP grew its position in Granite Construction by 68.4% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 325 shares of the construction company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd grew its position in Granite Construction by 112.8% during the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 900 shares of the construction company's stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Granite Construction during the 4th quarter valued at about $89,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Granite Construction by 193.7% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,345 shares of the construction company's stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 887 shares during the last quarter.

Granite Construction Price Performance

Granite Construction stock traded down $0.43 during trading on Monday, reaching $86.61. The company had a trading volume of 20,729 shares, compared to its average volume of 651,326. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.79 billion, a PE ratio of 35.06 and a beta of 1.33. Granite Construction Incorporated has a 1-year low of $58.23 and a 1-year high of $105.20. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $78.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.95.

Granite Construction (NYSE:GVA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Granite Construction Incorporated will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Granite Construction Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Granite Construction's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kyle T. Larkin sold 3,617 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 132,366 shares in the company, valued at $10,639,579.08. This trade represents a 2.66% decrease in their position. 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 that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.55, for a total value of $165,138.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,880 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,131,914. The trade was a 12.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,932 shares of company stock worth $896,979 in the last ninety days. 0.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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