Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) Reaches New 1-Year Low After Insider Selling

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $448.50 and last traded at $452.98, with a volume of 333928 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $475.91.

Specifically, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total value of $632,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,673,425. This trade represents a 27.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MLM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Stephens reduced their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.36.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 3.1 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $518.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $543.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly 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%. Equities analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.77%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MLM. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 317 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $171,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,734 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $933,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the period. Forte Capital LLC ADV bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at about $557,000. Graypoint LLC grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 1,501 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $808,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $876,648,000 after acquiring an additional 704,460 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

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.