Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at DA Davidson

DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC) in a report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $330.00 target price on the construction company’s stock.

VMC has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Vulcan Materials from $293.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $333.00 price objective on Vulcan Materials in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Berenberg Bank set a $283.00 price objective on Vulcan Materials and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Oppenheimer started coverage on Vulcan Materials in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Vulcan Materials from $310.00 to $305.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $328.64.

Vulcan Materials Stock Performance

VMC stock opened at $274.03 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.76. The stock has a market cap of $35.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $287.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $286.36. Vulcan Materials has a 52 week low of $252.35 and a 52 week high of $331.09.

Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The construction company reported $2.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.13. Vulcan Materials had a net margin of 13.75% and a return on equity of 13.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.42 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Vulcan Materials will post 9.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vulcan Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 13th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Vulcan Materials’s payout ratio is 24.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vulcan Materials

In other news, SVP David P. Clement sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.10, for a total value of $570,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 6,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,914,731.60. This represents a 22.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vulcan Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL grew its position in Vulcan Materials by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL now owns 3,712 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,059,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Composition Wealth LLC lifted its position in Vulcan Materials by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Composition Wealth LLC now owns 1,014 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Vulcan Materials by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 13,331 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,802,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Vulcan Materials by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,095 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $952,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, 4WEALTH Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Vulcan Materials by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. 4WEALTH Advisors Inc. now owns 1,261 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

About Vulcan Materials

Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE: VMC) is a U.S.-based producer of construction materials that supplies the building and infrastructure markets. The company’s primary products include construction aggregates such as crushed stone, sand and gravel, as well as asphalt mixes and ready-mixed concrete. These materials are used in a wide range of projects including highways, commercial and residential construction, and public infrastructure.

Vulcan operates an integrated network of quarries, asphalt plants and concrete facilities to produce and deliver materials to contractors, municipalities and private developers.