Legal & General Group Plc Lowers Holdings in Vulcan Materials Company $VMC

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its holdings in Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE:VMC) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 673,853 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 11,393 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.51% of Vulcan Materials worth $192,196,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Vulcan Materials by 1.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,207,183 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,293,274,000 after acquiring an additional 311,539 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Vulcan Materials by 1.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,924,285 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,437,669,000 after acquiring an additional 99,298 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Vulcan Materials by 5.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,625,271 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,345,703,000 after acquiring an additional 414,828 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Vulcan Materials by 0.4% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,318,474 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $713,209,000 after acquiring an additional 9,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in Vulcan Materials in the third quarter worth approximately $425,938,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VMC. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Vulcan Materials from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial set a $325.00 price target on shares of Vulcan Materials in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Vulcan Materials from $296.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Vulcan Materials from $296.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Vulcan Materials from $330.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $330.58.

Vulcan Materials Stock Up 2.6%

VMC stock opened at $275.96 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Vulcan Materials Company has a twelve month low of $252.35 and a twelve month high of $331.09. The company’s 50 day moving average is $279.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $290.59. The stock has a market cap of $35.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.81, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.09.

Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The construction company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.25. Vulcan Materials had a net margin of 13.81% and a return on equity of 12.95%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Vulcan Materials Company will post 9.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vulcan Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Vulcan Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.73%.

About Vulcan Materials

Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE: VMC) is a U.S.-based producer of construction materials that supplies the building and infrastructure markets. The company’s primary products include construction aggregates such as crushed stone, sand and gravel, as well as asphalt mixes and ready-mixed concrete. These materials are used in a wide range of projects including highways, commercial and residential construction, and public infrastructure.

Vulcan operates an integrated network of quarries, asphalt plants and concrete facilities to produce and deliver materials to contractors, municipalities and private developers.