Zacks Research Downgrades Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI) to Hold

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

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. 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 upgraded Valmont Industries from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Valmont Industries from $645.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Oppenheimer set a $600.00 target price on Valmont Industries and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Valmont Industries from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $582.00.

Valmont Industries Stock Down 3.8%

Shares of NYSE:VMI opened at $506.10 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $539.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $477.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.10, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.33. Valmont Industries has a 1 year low of $337.93 and a 1 year high of $585.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 2.38.

Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The industrial products company reported $6.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.80 by $0.34. Valmont Industries had a net margin of 8.91% and a return on equity of 24.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.88 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Valmont Industries will post 22.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Valmont Industries

In other Valmont Industries news, Director Mogens C. Bay sold 17,500 shares of the business’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 value of $8,615,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 112,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $55,294,213.06. The trade was a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.42% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Valmont Industries

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VMI. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Valmont Industries during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Valmont Industries during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Valmont Industries by 179.2% in the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 67 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new position in shares of Valmont Industries in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Valmont Industries in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 87.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Valmont Industries News

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

Valmont Industries Company Profile

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.