Greenleaf Trust Grows Stock Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Greenleaf Trust raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,135 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.8% in the second quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 664 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 13.6% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 167 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. TFG Advisers LLC raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 555 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co lifted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 680 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MLM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $560.00 to $515.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $657.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Stephens reduced their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, 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 research note on Monday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $619.36.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

NYSE MLM opened at $570.21 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $35.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.91. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $389.90 and a fifty-two week high of $626.67. The business has a fifty day moving average of $536.79 and a 200-day moving average of $556.84.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The construction company reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.36 by ($0.60). The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 30.80%. Martin Marietta Materials’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 3rd. This is a positive change from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.