1,976,054 Shares in Valmont Industries, Inc. $VMI Bought by BlackRock Inc.

Key Points

• BlackRock acquired 1,976,054 shares of Valmont Industries in the second quarter, valued at approximately $1.14 billion and representing about 10.23% of the company.
• Institutional investors own 87.84% of Valmont, while analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $587.
• Valmont exceeded quarterly expectations with $6.14 in EPS and $1.12 billion in revenue, up 6.5% year over year. The company also declared a $0.77 quarterly dividend, yielding about 0.6%.

BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE:VMI - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,976,054 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $1,141,369,000. BlackRock Inc. owned approximately 10.23% of Valmont Industries as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 225.1% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 67,630 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $19,300,000 after acquiring an additional 46,825 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 59,127 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $16,873,000 after purchasing an additional 4,676 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Valmont Industries during the 1st quarter valued at about $265,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Valmont Industries by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 72,511 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $20,692,000 after purchasing an additional 2,639 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Valmont Industries by 223.4% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 152 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. 87.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on VMI. Oppenheimer set a $600.00 target price on shares of Valmont Industries and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Valmont Industries from $645.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Valmont Industries from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Zacks Research cut shares of Valmont Industries from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Valmont Industries from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $587.00.

Valmont Industries Stock Performance

Shares of VMI opened at $486.94 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The business's 50 day moving average price is $524.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $485.67. Valmont Industries, Inc. has a 52 week low of $360.41 and a 52 week high of $585.71. The stock has a market cap of $9.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.35.

Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The industrial products company reported $6.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.80 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.09 billion. Valmont Industries had a return on equity of 25.57% and a net margin of 11.70%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.88 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Valmont Industries, Inc. will post 23.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Valmont Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 25th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 25th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Valmont Industries's payout ratio is 11.99%.

Insider Activity at Valmont Industries

In other news, Director Theodor Werner Freye sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $495.00, for a total transaction of $396,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,805 shares in the company, valued at $1,388,475. This represents a 22.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO John L. Schwietz purchased 208 shares of Valmont Industries stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $486.14 per share, with a total value of $101,117.12. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,992 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,454,530.88. This represents a 7.47% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 1.42% of the company's stock.

About Valmont Industries

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source