State of Michigan Retirement System Lowers Stock Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

State of Michigan Retirement System decreased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,837 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $9,122,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mather Group LLC. increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 13.6% during the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 167 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 555 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,170 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $584,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co. grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 5.0% during the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 442 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. Finally, Spire Wealth Management increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 810 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $497,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 4.6 %

Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $518.57 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 3.16. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $389.90 and a 1 year high of $626.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $547.34 and its 200-day moving average is $571.21. The company has a market cap of $31.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.37, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.91.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The construction company reported $4.76 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.36 by ($0.60). The company 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 31.35% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.60 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 22.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is an increase 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup lowered their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group lifted 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 note on Wednesday, July 17th. Stephens reduced 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $657.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $615.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus 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.