Fisher Funds Management LTD Takes $22.03 Million Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 42,573 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,034,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $876,648,000 after buying an additional 704,460 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,441,663,000 after acquiring an additional 506,705 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,353,936,000 after purchasing an additional 334,605 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 7,608.2% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 181,373 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $97,624,000 after purchasing an additional 179,020 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 467,782 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $251,784,000 after purchasing an additional 164,503 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MLM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $680.00 to $645.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $639.43.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

NYSE MLM opened at $489.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The company has a market cap of $29.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.15, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $530.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $547.08. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $482.72 and a 1-year high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.54% and a return on equity of 12.11%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.77%.

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.