Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Stake Raised by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 15.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 747 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $402,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MLM. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lifted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 25,242 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $13,037,000 after buying an additional 3,384 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 18.5% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 8,220 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,914,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 431.3% in the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,391 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941 shares in the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 3rd quarter worth about $734,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2,448.1% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,376 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $741,000 after buying an additional 1,322 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

NYSE MLM opened at $543.92 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $546.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $551.21. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $490.05 and a 52-week high of $633.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.95, a P/E/G ratio of 4.57 and a beta of 0.91.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.41 by ($0.50). Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 30.47%. The firm had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.94 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.57 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company 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 was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is 9.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MLM shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. HSBC raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Hsbc Global Res raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.