State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Lowers Stake in Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE:VMI)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lowered its stake in shares of Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE:VMI) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,020 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 440 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Valmont Industries were worth $2,153,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of VMI. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Valmont Industries by 5,505.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,009 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 991 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 13,934 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,040,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 214 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,325 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $674,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 69.4% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 15,250 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,390,000 after purchasing an additional 6,250 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 brokerages have recently commented on VMI. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Valmont Industries from $387.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson lowered Valmont Industries from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Valmont Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Valmont Industries Price Performance

NYSE VMI opened at $349.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.55. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $324.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $312.21. Valmont Industries, Inc. has a 1 year low of $202.01 and a 1 year high of $379.22. The company has a market cap of $7.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.32 and a beta of 1.05.

Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $3.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.21. Valmont Industries had a return on equity of 23.15% and a net margin of 8.55%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.18 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Valmont Industries, Inc. will post 18.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Valmont Industries Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.68 dividend. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from Valmont Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Valmont Industries’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Valmont Industries news, Director Mogens C. Bay sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.92, for a total transaction of $6,978,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 131,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,963,231.60. This trade represents a 13.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Valmont Industries Profile

Valmont Industries, Inc operates as manufacturer of products and services for infrastructure and agriculture markets in the United States, Australia, Brazil, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Infrastructure and Agriculture. The company manufactures and distributes steel, pre-stressed concrete, composite structures for electrical transmission, substation, and distribution applications; and designs, engineers, and manufactures metal, steel, wood, aluminum, and composite poles and structures for lighting and transportation applications.