Bridges Investment Management Inc. Takes Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 592 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $321,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 1st quarter valued at about $22,265,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 8,562 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,272,000 after purchasing an additional 1,728 shares during the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 49.7% during the 4th quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 5,672 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,882 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 182.5% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 73,135 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $44,901,000 after purchasing an additional 47,250 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:MLM opened at $546.29 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.67 billion, a PE ratio of 16.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $540.85 and its 200 day moving average is $566.68. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $389.90 and a 12 month high of $626.67.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The construction company reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.36 by ($0.60). Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.80% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.60 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is a boost from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MLM shares. Loop Capital cut their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $615.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Citigroup cut their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $658.00 to $646.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 12th. 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. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $660.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $629.82.

Martin Marietta Materials 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.