Independent Advisor Alliance Purchases Shares of 764 Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Independent Advisor Alliance purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 764 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $394,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 18.9% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 19,227 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $9,931,000 after buying an additional 3,063 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 13,102 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,767,000 after buying an additional 1,555 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $15,752,000. Amundi boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,562,146 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $808,005,000 after buying an additional 148,065 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 20,797 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $10,909,000 after buying an additional 2,639 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Martin Marietta Materials

In other news, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total transaction of $632,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,523 shares in the company, valued at $1,673,425. The trade was a 27.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Michael J. Petro purchased 550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $454.37 per share, for a total transaction of $249,903.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 8,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,082,514.45. This trade represents a 6.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 2.5 %

NYSE MLM opened at $489.30 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.50. The firm has a market cap of $29.83 billion, a PE ratio of 15.13, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $448.50 and a one year high of $633.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $513.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $540.64.

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

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MLM shares. Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $559.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $634.36.

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.