Intech Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Intech Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 54.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,536 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 4,280 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $2,171,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $3,577,268,000 after acquiring an additional 69,701 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter worth approximately $308,705,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 615,396 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $307,026,000 after purchasing an additional 27,775 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 423,953 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $211,103,000 after buying an additional 3,292 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 387,133 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $193,145,000 after buying an additional 52,451 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $642.00 to $737.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $696.00 to $658.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $710.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $660.00 to $665.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $617.33.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Martin Marietta Materials stock traded down $4.98 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $559.08. 894,307 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 493,224. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $389.90 and a 12-month high of $626.67. The business’s 50-day moving average is $559.49 and its 200-day moving average is $562.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 3.16 and a quick ratio of 2.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.46 billion, a PE ratio of 16.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.91.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 31.35% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 22.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.77%.

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.