Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE:VMI) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.68 Per Share

Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE:VMI) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of 0.68 per share by the industrial products company on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Valmont Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60.

Valmont Industries has increased its dividend by an average of 6.3% annually over the last three years. Valmont Industries has a dividend payout ratio of 12.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Valmont Industries to earn $19.23 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.5%.

Valmont Industries Stock Performance

Shares of VMI opened at $366.88 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.36 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 2.35. Valmont Industries has a 1 year low of $202.01 and a 1 year high of $379.22. The company’s fifty day moving average is $323.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $311.36.

Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $3.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. Valmont Industries had a return on equity of 23.42% and a net margin of 8.55%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.18 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Valmont Industries will post 17.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Valmont Industries

In related news, Director Mogens C. Bay sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.92, for a total transaction of $6,978,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 131,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,963,231.60. This represents a 13.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on VMI shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Valmont Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Valmont Industries from $387.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded shares of Valmont Industries from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $380.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday.

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.