Sanctuary Advisors LLC Invests $3.76 Million in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,934 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,757,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.2% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 228,775 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $123,950,000 after acquiring an additional 4,939 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 41.5% in the second quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 28,616 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $15,504,000 after acquiring an additional 8,387 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 6.4% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,035 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 23.5% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,782 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $965,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Front Row Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the second quarter valued at $239,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $524.11 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $32.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.91. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $389.90 and a fifty-two week high of $626.67. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $535.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $562.17.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.60 earnings per share. On average, sell-side 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a $0.79 dividend. This is a positive change from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MLM has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $658.00 to $646.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. BNP Paribas raised Martin Marietta Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Stephens cut their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $660.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average 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.