Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI) Downgraded to “Buy” Rating by StockNews.com

Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

VMI has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Valmont Industries from $387.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. DA Davidson downgraded shares of Valmont Industries from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th.

Valmont Industries Price Performance

Shares of VMI stock opened at $322.25 on Wednesday. Valmont Industries has a 1-year low of $202.01 and a 1-year high of $379.22. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $331.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $318.63. 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 firm has a market cap of $6.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.76 and a beta of 0.98.

Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $3.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. Valmont Industries had a net margin of 8.55% and a return on equity of 23.15%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.18 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Valmont Industries will post 18.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Valmont Industries

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,990,839 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $610,531,000 after acquiring an additional 6,967 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 640,876 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $186,204,000 after acquiring an additional 6,913 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 502,192 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $154,007,000 after acquiring an additional 94,884 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 425,178 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $130,389,000 after acquiring an additional 9,201 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Valmont Industries by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 397,523 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $121,908,000 after acquiring an additional 16,302 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.84% of the company’s stock.

About Valmont Industries

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.