Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on VMI. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Valmont Industries from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Valmont Industries from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Valmont Industries from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Oppenheimer set a $600.00 price target on Valmont Industries and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Valmont Industries from $645.00 to $678.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Valmont Industries presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $582.00.

Valmont Industries Trading Down 3.8%

Valmont Industries stock opened at $506.10 on Monday. Valmont Industries has a 12-month low of $337.93 and a 12-month high of $585.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $539.65 and a 200 day moving average of $477.08. The company has a current ratio of 2.38, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The industrial products company reported $6.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.80 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Valmont Industries had a net margin of 8.91% and a return on equity of 24.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Valmont Industries will post 22.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Valmont Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 26th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 26th. Valmont Industries’s payout ratio is 17.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mogens C. Bay sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $492.34, for a total transaction of $8,615,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 112,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,294,213.06. This trade represents a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 8.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 422,997 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $164,009,000 after purchasing an additional 32,382 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Valmont Industries by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 369,059 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $148,509,000 after buying an additional 12,480 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Valmont Industries by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 290,948 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $112,809,000 after acquiring an additional 8,715 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Valmont Industries by 118.8% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 282,610 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $108,884,000 after acquiring an additional 153,418 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in Valmont Industries by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 252,605 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $100,933,000 after acquiring an additional 9,130 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.84% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Valmont Industries

Here are the key news stories impacting Valmont Industries this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Valmont beat second-quarter estimates, reporting EPS of $6.14 versus expectations of $5.76 and revenue of $1.12 billion versus $1.09 billion expected, suggesting solid operational performance. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The company raised full-year guidance, and commentary highlighted strong utility/infrastructure demand, which supports the long-term growth story for VMI. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts continued to frame the quarter as a mixed setup: strong utility growth and better earnings, but only a moderate increase to EPS guidance, which may have limited the upside reaction. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent price-target updates remain constructive, including Stifel’s move to $678 and JP Morgan’s $600 target, indicating Wall Street still sees upside despite the pullback. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Shares fell as investors weighed lingering weakness in agriculture and softer telecommunications demand, which offset the strong headline earnings beat. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: GuruFocus said VMI remains overvalued on its GF Value measure, reinforcing concerns that the stock may have gotten ahead of fundamentals. Article Title

Valmont Industries Company Profile

Valmont Industries, Inc (NYSE: VMI) is a diversified industrial manufacturer specializing in infrastructure and agricultural products. Headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, the company engages in the design, production and distribution of engineered products that support water management, power transmission, lighting and traffic infrastructure. Valmont’s solutions range from center-pivot and lateral-move irrigation systems to utility poles, transmission towers, lighting structures and highway traffic signal support structures.

The company operates through several core business segments.