Inspire Investing LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Inspire Investing LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 46.3% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,107 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,813 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $1,142,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,170,166 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,577,268,000 after purchasing an additional 69,701 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $602,092,000 after purchasing an additional 523,038 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 623,681 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $337,903,000 after purchasing an additional 12,759 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 465,703 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $252,318,000 after purchasing an additional 11,749 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.0% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 374,811 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $203,073,000 after purchasing an additional 3,598 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MLM stock opened at $548.56 on Friday. 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 $33.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.25, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $541.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $567.60. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $389.90 and a fifty-two week high of $626.67.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.76 billion for 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 in the prior year, the company earned $5.60 EPS. Analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. This is an increase from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MLM shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $660.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $700.00 to $670.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $658.00 to $646.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $657.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.