Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE:VMC) Receives $319.92 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE:VMC) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $320.3846.

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $327.00 price target on shares of Vulcan Materials in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on Vulcan Materials from $295.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Vulcan Materials in a research report on Tuesday. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $330.00 price target on shares of Vulcan Materials in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Vulcan Materials from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st.

Vulcan Materials Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE:VMC opened at $300.67 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Vulcan Materials has a 12-month low of $215.08 and a 12-month high of $313.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $296.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $292.10.

Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The construction company reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.72 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Vulcan Materials had a return on equity of 13.47% and a net margin of 14.19%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.22 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Vulcan Materials will post 8.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP David P. Clement sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.55, for a total value of $577,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $240,073.60. This represents a 70.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Thompson S. Baker II sold 7,135 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.81, for a total transaction of $2,146,279.35. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,471 shares of company stock valued at $6,054,615. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $5,293,274,000 after purchasing an additional 311,539 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Vulcan Materials by 1.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,924,285 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,437,669,000 after buying an additional 99,298 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Vulcan Materials by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,625,271 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,345,703,000 after buying an additional 414,828 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Vulcan Materials by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,558,791 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,449,844,000 after acquiring an additional 95,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Vulcan Materials by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,491,618 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $906,961,000 after acquiring an additional 27,531 shares during the period. 90.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vulcan Materials Company Profile

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.