Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Position in Valmont Industries, Inc. $VMI

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in Valmont Industries by 23% in the fourth quarter, selling 9,374 shares and leaving it with 31,405 shares valued at about $12.6 million.
• Valmont Industries reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $5.51 versus $4.72 expected and revenue of $1.03 billion, up 6.2% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: multiple firms raised ratings or price targets, and MarketBeat shows a consensus Buy with an average price target of $525.25.

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in shares of Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE:VMI - Free Report) by 23.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,405 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 9,374 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.16% of Valmont Industries worth $12,635,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV purchased a new position in Valmont Industries in the third quarter worth $739,000. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Valmont Industries during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,658,000. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 85,346 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $34,336,000 after purchasing an additional 10,518 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Valmont Industries in the 3rd quarter worth $5,663,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in Valmont Industries by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 283,740 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $110,015,000 after buying an additional 3,379 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.84% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on VMI shares. Wall Street Zen raised Valmont Industries from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Sunday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Valmont Industries from $480.00 to $510.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Valmont Industries from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Valmont Industries from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $600.00 target price on shares of Valmont Industries and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $525.25.

Valmont Industries Stock Performance

Shares of VMI stock opened at $542.68 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.38 and a quick ratio of 1.59. The business has a fifty day moving average of $463.45 and a 200 day moving average of $441.14. Valmont Industries, Inc. has a 1 year low of $316.56 and a 1 year high of $545.99.

Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $5.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.72 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $994.85 million. Valmont Industries had a return on equity of 24.94% and a net margin of 8.91%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.32 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Valmont Industries, Inc. will post 22.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Valmont Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 26th will be given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 26th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Valmont Industries's dividend payout ratio is currently 17.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Valmont Industries news, Director Mogens C. Bay sold 17,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company 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.

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