Sargent Investment Group LLC Buys Shares of 5,786 Vulcan Materials Company $VMC

Sargent Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE:VMC) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 5,786 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,650,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Vulcan Materials by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,293,316 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $397,795,000 after buying an additional 3,931 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its position in Vulcan Materials by 67.8% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 14,320 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,405,000 after acquiring an additional 5,787 shares during the period. Interval Partners LP increased its position in Vulcan Materials by 82.9% in the 3rd quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 152,645 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $46,957,000 after acquiring an additional 69,189 shares during the period. London & Capital Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Vulcan Materials by 26.4% during the third quarter. London & Capital Asset Management Ltd now owns 108,087 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $33,248,000 after acquiring an additional 22,545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Vulcan Materials by 57.2% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 155,291 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $47,759,000 after acquiring an additional 56,475 shares during the last quarter. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective (down from $335.00) on shares of Vulcan Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Zacks Research raised Vulcan Materials from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Stephens lifted their target price on Vulcan Materials from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Berenberg Bank set a $283.00 price target on Vulcan Materials and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Vulcan Materials from $296.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vulcan Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $326.92.

Vulcan Materials Trading Down 0.1%

VMC opened at $286.21 on Monday. Vulcan Materials Company has a twelve month low of $252.35 and a twelve month high of $331.09. The company has a fifty day moving average of $282.62 and a 200-day moving average of $290.04. The stock has a market cap of $37.14 billion, a PE ratio of 34.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 2.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The construction company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Vulcan Materials had a net margin of 13.81% and a return on equity of 12.95%. Vulcan Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Vulcan Materials Company will post 9.29 EPS for the current year.

Vulcan Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Vulcan Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.