JPMorgan Chase & Co. Buys 506,705 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 23.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 506,705 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $1,441,663,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,353,936,000 after buying an additional 334,605 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.1% in the 2nd 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. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 534,801 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $295,397,000 after buying an additional 9,908 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 467,782 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $251,784,000 after purchasing an additional 164,503 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of MLM stock opened at $532.04 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $578.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $554.30. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $479.67 and a 12-month high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.41 by ($0.50). The business had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 30.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is 9.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MLM shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on 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. HSBC upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $653.08.

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.