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

Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

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

Valmont Industries Stock Down 3.8%

Shares of NYSE VMI opened at $506.10 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $9.83 billion, a PE ratio of 28.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $539.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $477.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Valmont Industries has a 52-week low of $337.93 and a 52-week high of $585.71.

Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The industrial products company reported $6.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.80 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during 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 prior year, the firm earned $4.88 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Valmont Industries will post 22.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Valmont Industries news, Director Mogens C. Bay sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $492.34, for a total transaction of $8,615,950.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 112,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,294,213.06. This represents a 13.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Valmont Industries

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

Key Headlines Impacting 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

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.