Great Lakes Dredge Gets An Activist In Privet

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation GLDD recently reported Q3 EPS of $0.08, beating the Street’s consensus by $0.05. However, revenue of $198.8 million fell short of expectations for $201.4 million.

Shares lost almost 10 percent of their value on the day of the report, but have rebounded more than 45 percent since, helped in part by an insider purchase disclosed on November 8.

As per the SEC filing, the board director acquired 7,930 shares on November 7 for $3.21 per share. He now owns 58,474 shares of the company.

Activist Investor

On Monday, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation’s stock spiked 2.78 percent after Privet Fund Management LLC disclosed a 5.2 percent activist stake comprising 3,168,925 shares of the company. According to the document, the firm intends to engage in discussions with the company regarding “corporate governance (including Board composition), operations, strategic plans and other means to enhance stockholder value.” Specifically, the fund believes the company would “benefit from the addition of new, independent directors in the boardroom to serve as direct stockholder representatives.”

A Look Into Privet

Privet Management has been known to move stocks in the past, when taking actives stakes in companies. This was the case for Synalloy Corporation SYNL and Norsat International Inc (USA) NSAT, which surged 3.02 percent and 24.29 percent, respectively, on September 19, following filings from the fund.