Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Stock Holdings Reduced by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. cut its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 68,363 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,780 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $35,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Martin Marietta Materials

In related news, SVP Michael J. Petro acquired 550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $454.37 per share, with a total value of $249,903.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,082,514.45. This trade represents a 6.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the company’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,673,425. This represents a 27.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MLM. HSBC raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $559.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $640.00 to $560.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $626.50.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 3.0 %

NYSE:MLM opened at $470.33 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $500.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $537.18. The company has a market cap of $28.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.81. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $448.50 and a 52-week high of $633.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.50.

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

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.