Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC) Earns Buy Rating from DA Davidson

Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at DA Davidson in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $330.00 price target on the construction company’s stock. DA Davidson’s price objective points to a potential upside of 33.19% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on VMC. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Vulcan Materials in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Vulcan Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $305.00 to $254.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Vulcan Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, September 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Vulcan Materials from $293.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Vulcan Materials in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vulcan Materials has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $325.00.

Vulcan Materials Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VMC opened at $247.76 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.76 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The company has a market cap of $32.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $271.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $279.12. Vulcan Materials has a 1-year low of $240.69 and a 1-year high of $331.09.

Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The construction company reported $2.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.13. Vulcan Materials had a net margin of 13.75% and a return on equity of 13.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.42 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Vulcan Materials will post 9.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Vulcan Materials news, SVP David P. Clement sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.10, for a total transaction of $570,200.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 6,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,914,731.60. This represents a 22.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director J. Hill sold 14,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.17, for a total value of $3,866,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 58,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,075,579.53. The trade was a 19.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vulcan Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VMC. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vulcan Materials in the second quarter valued at $2,868,444,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Vulcan Materials by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,576,172 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,016,168,000 after buying an additional 32,012 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Vulcan Materials in the 2nd quarter worth $688,580,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in Vulcan Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $451,119,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Vulcan Materials by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,346,422 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $366,592,000 after buying an additional 24,187 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.39% of the company’s stock.

About Vulcan Materials

Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE:VMC) is a major U.S. producer and supplier of construction materials. The company’s primary business is aggregates, including crushed stone, sand and gravel, which are used in roads, bridges, buildings and other infrastructure projects.

Vulcan also produces and distributes asphalt and ready-mixed concrete, as well as calcium products used in construction, industrial and other applications. Its products are sold to public-sector customers, contractors, commercial developers and other businesses involved in construction and infrastructure development.

Founded in 1909 and headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, Vulcan Materials has expanded through organic growth and acquisitions to operate production facilities, distribution terminals and related assets across much of the United States.