New York State Common Retirement Fund Cuts Stock Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 64,557 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 4,927 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $32,208,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 144.4% during the 3rd quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 66 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 84.6% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 72 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 74.3% during the 4th quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 61 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $600.00 price target (up from $530.00) on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Friday, March 22nd. HSBC raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $376.00 to $543.00 in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $635.00 to $708.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $588.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total value of $6,032,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,179,301.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total value of $6,032,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,179,301.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total transaction of $936,959.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,757,099.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 26,724 shares of company stock valued at $16,033,760. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of MLM stock opened at $597.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $36.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 3.35 and a quick ratio of 2.50. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $343.79 and a 1-year high of $626.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $592.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $514.74.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The construction company reported $4.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.67. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 17.25% and a return on equity of 15.77%. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.04 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.72%.

Martin Marietta Materials Company 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.