Arizona State Retirement System Decreases Stake in Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE:VMI)

Arizona State Retirement System lowered its stake in Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE:VMI) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,747 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 106 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Valmont Industries were worth $1,640,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,990,839 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $610,531,000 after buying an additional 6,967 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 502,192 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $154,007,000 after buying an additional 94,884 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 425,178 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $130,389,000 after buying an additional 9,201 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 397,523 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $121,908,000 after buying an additional 16,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC raised its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 289,922 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $88,910,000 after buying an additional 1,289 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.84% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on VMI shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Valmont Industries from $343.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Valmont Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Valmont Industries from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd.

Valmont Industries Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of Valmont Industries stock opened at $336.20 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.75 billion, a PE ratio of 19.57 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 2.26 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $325.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $317.44. Valmont Industries, Inc. has a 1 year low of $250.07 and a 1 year high of $379.22.

Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $4.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.24 by $0.08. Valmont Industries had a net margin of 8.55% and a return on equity of 22.27%. The company had revenue of $969.31 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $976.04 million. Equities research analysts predict that Valmont Industries, Inc. will post 18.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Valmont Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th were issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 27th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Valmont Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.83%.

Valmont Industries Company 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.