Washington Trust Bank Has $5.99 Million Stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Washington Trust Bank lowered its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,605 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 526 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Bank’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $5,994,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 91.9% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MLM has been the subject of several recent research reports. BNP Paribas downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. HSBC raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $640.00 to $560.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $628.64.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $477.49 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $511.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $539.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $448.50 and a 12 month high of $633.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.77%.

Insider Transactions at Martin Marietta Materials

In other news, SVP Michael J. Petro purchased 550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $454.37 per share, for a total transaction of $249,903.50. Following the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 8,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,082,514.45. The trade was a 6.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total value of $632,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,523 shares in the company, valued at $1,673,425. This represents a 27.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.