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

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

Valmont Industries has increased its dividend payment 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 $17.96 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 13.4%.

Valmont Industries Stock Down 2.7 %

NYSE:VMI traded down $10.10 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $366.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 295,191 shares, compared to its average volume of 120,925. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $322.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $310.97. The company has a market capitalization of $7.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.92 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 12 month low of $202.01 and a 12 month high of $379.22.

Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $3.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.21. The business 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 23.10% and a net margin of 7.38%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.18 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Valmont Industries will post 16.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson downgraded 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. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Valmont Industries from $387.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Insider Activity

In other Valmont Industries news, Director Mogens C. Bay sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.92, for a total value of $6,978,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 131,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,963,231.60. This represents a 13.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

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.