Vontobel Holding Ltd. Lowers Stake in Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE:VMI)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lessened its position in shares of Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE:VMI) by 47.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,628 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,214 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Valmont Industries were worth $1,113,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VMI. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Valmont Industries by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 15,436 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,734,000 after buying an additional 3,943 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Valmont Industries in the fourth quarter worth about $8,275,000. Entropy Technologies LP boosted its position in shares of Valmont Industries by 85.2% in the fourth quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 1,522 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $467,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Valmont Industries in the fourth quarter worth about $526,000. Finally, Choreo LLC boosted its position in shares of Valmont Industries by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 1,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.84% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Valmont Industries

In other Valmont Industries news, Director Mogens C. Bay sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.92, for a total transaction of $6,978,400.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 131,730 shares in the company, valued at $45,963,231.60. This represents a 13.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson upped their target price on Valmont Industries from $340.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Valmont Industries from $382.00 to $387.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

Valmont Industries Trading Up 17.8 %

Shares of VMI opened at $378.00 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.68 and a beta of 1.05. Valmont Industries, Inc. has a one year low of $202.01 and a one year high of $379.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 2.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $322.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $310.97.

Valmont Industries (NYSE:VMI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The industrial products company reported $3.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.63 by $0.21. 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 company earned $3.18 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Valmont Industries, Inc. will post 16.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.