Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Shares Sold by First Foundation Advisors

First Foundation Advisors reduced its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 150 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 32 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors’ holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $81,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter worth $308,705,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 114.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 980,699 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $602,092,000 after acquiring an additional 523,038 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 4,244.5% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 277,182 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $138,289,000 after purchasing an additional 270,802 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 306.8% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 161,690 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $80,668,000 after purchasing an additional 121,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,170,166 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,577,268,000 after purchasing an additional 69,701 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Citigroup cut their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $658.00 to $646.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $615.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Stephens cut their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $660.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $629.82.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MLM opened at $507.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.26 billion, a PE ratio of 15.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.91. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $389.90 and a 1 year high of $626.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $543.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $569.94.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The construction company reported $4.76 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.36 by ($0.60). The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 30.80%. Martin Marietta Materials’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.60 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.59 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. This is a positive change from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

About Martin Marietta Materials

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc, a natural resource-based building materials company, supplies aggregates and heavy-side building materials to the construction industry in the United States and internationally. It offers crushed stone, sand, and gravel products; ready mixed concrete and asphalt; paving products and services; and Portland and specialty cement for use in the infrastructure projects, and nonresidential and residential construction markets, as well as in the railroad, agricultural, utility, and environmental industries.