Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Purchases New Holdings in Valmont Industries, Inc. $VMI

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new position in Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE:VMI) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,361 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $544,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VMI. Robert B. Daugherty Foundation bought a new position in shares of Valmont Industries during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $100,580,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Valmont Industries during the fourth quarter valued at $99,799,000. Ninety One UK Ltd bought a new position in Valmont Industries during the fourth quarter valued at $66,103,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Valmont Industries by 118.8% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 282,610 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $108,884,000 after buying an additional 153,418 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in Valmont Industries by 179.6% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 117,342 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,320,000 after buying an additional 75,377 shares during the last quarter. 87.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VMI. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Valmont Industries from $541.00 to $645.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Weiss Ratings raised Valmont Industries from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Oppenheimer set a $600.00 price objective on Valmont Industries and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Valmont Industries from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Valmont Industries from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $573.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction of $8,615,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 112,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,294,213.06. The trade was a 13.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.42% of the company’s stock.

Valmont Industries Stock Performance

Shares of VMI opened at $532.89 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $539.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $475.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.33. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $329.21 and a 52-week high of $585.71.

Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $5.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.72 by $0.79. Valmont Industries had a return on equity of 24.94% and a net margin of 8.91%.The business had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $994.85 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.32 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Valmont Industries, Inc. will post 22.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Valmont Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 26th were given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 26th. Valmont Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.10%.

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.