Harbor Investment Advisory LLC Trims Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Harbor Investment Advisory LLC decreased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 29.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 118 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $72,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kestra Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 3.3% in the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,598 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $656,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 22,776 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $9,349,000 after purchasing an additional 786 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 4,542 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,864,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 46,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $18,884,000 after buying an additional 1,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 11.4% during the third quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 686 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MLM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $642.00 to $737.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. StockNews.com lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $635.00 to $708.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $600.00 price target (up from $530.00) on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $621.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $610.27.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of MLM stock opened at $540.68 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $578.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $555.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 3.16 and a quick ratio of 2.41. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $389.90 and a one year high of $626.67. The company has a market capitalization of $33.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.93.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.05. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 31.35%. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.16 EPS. Martin Marietta Materials’s revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 23.29 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is 8.77%.

About Martin Marietta Materials

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.