Blue Trust Inc. Purchases 446 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 223.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 646 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $350,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 114.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 980,699 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $602,092,000 after purchasing an additional 523,038 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 247.5% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 148,827 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $80,634,000 after acquiring an additional 106,002 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the first quarter worth $41,142,000. Interval Partners LP boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 117.4% in the first quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 95,810 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $58,822,000 after purchasing an additional 51,749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 182.5% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 73,135 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $44,901,000 after purchasing an additional 47,250 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $658.00 to $646.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $657.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Stephens lowered their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $619.36.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE MLM opened at $562.79 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $34.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.91. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $389.90 and a 52 week high of $626.67. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $535.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $557.11.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The construction company reported $4.76 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.36 by ($0.60). The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.80% and a return on equity of 13.85%. Martin Marietta Materials’s revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.60 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.56%. This is a boost from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.