Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Shares Sold by Caprock Group LLC

Caprock Group LLC cut its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,810 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 120 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $981,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MLM. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter worth approximately $308,705,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 114.3% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 980,699 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $602,092,000 after acquiring an additional 523,038 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 4,244.5% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 277,182 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $138,289,000 after acquiring an additional 270,802 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 306.8% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 161,690 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $80,668,000 after purchasing an additional 121,941 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,170,166 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,577,268,000 after purchasing an additional 69,701 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of MLM opened at $507.20 on Wednesday. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $389.90 and a one year high of $626.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $543.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $569.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.86. The company has a market capitalization of $31.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.91.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The construction company reported $4.76 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.36 by ($0.60). The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.80% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $5.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be given a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is an increase from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MLM shares. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $657.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $658.00 to $646.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $615.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $629.82.

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.