Park Avenue Securities LLC Sells 479 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Park Avenue Securities LLC reduced its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 19.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,951 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 479 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $1,008,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 411.1% in the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 46 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1,300.0% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 56 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. First Personal Financial Services purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the third quarter worth $33,000. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the third quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Tobam raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 38.8% in the third quarter. Tobam now owns 93 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 2.3 %

MLM opened at $543.33 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $33.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $554.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $551.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $490.05 and a 12 month high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.41 by ($0.50). The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 30.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.94 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.6 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is presently 9.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MLM shares. BNP Paribas downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group began coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $730.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wolfe Research upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $648.71.

Martin Marietta Materials 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.