Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Shares Sold by Los Angeles Capital Management LLC

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 49.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 841 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 811 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MLM. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,170,166 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,577,268,000 after buying an additional 69,701 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 114.3% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 980,699 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $602,092,000 after purchasing an additional 523,038 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $308,705,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 465,703 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $252,318,000 after purchasing an additional 11,749 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 387,133 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $193,145,000 after purchasing an additional 52,451 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MLM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $658.00 to $646.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. StockNews.com cut Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Stephens decreased their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $660.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $629.82.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MLM opened at $520.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $389.90 and a 12 month high of $626.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $541.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $568.69.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.80% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is a boost from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is presently 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.