Argent Trust Co Increases Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Argent Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 14.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,636 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 470 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $1,970,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $22,265,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 8,562 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,272,000 after purchasing an additional 1,728 shares in the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 49.7% during the fourth quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 5,672 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,882 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 182.5% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 73,135 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $44,901,000 after purchasing an additional 47,250 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of MLM stock opened at $534.01 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $541.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $567.73. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $389.90 and a twelve month high of $626.67. The company has a market capitalization of $32.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.82, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

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). Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.80% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.60 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be paid a $0.79 dividend. This is an increase from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Loop Capital cut their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $615.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Truist Financial cut their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $700.00 to $670.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $629.82.

Martin Marietta Materials Company Profile

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.