Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Shares Sold by Confluence Investment Management LLC

Confluence Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 62,668 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,541 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC owned about 0.10% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $32,368,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,441,663,000 after purchasing an additional 506,705 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% during 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. raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $876,648,000 after acquiring an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 623,681 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $337,903,000 after acquiring an additional 12,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 534,801 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $295,397,000 after acquiring an additional 9,908 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MLM shares. HSBC raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays raised their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.08.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of MLM stock traded down $2.73 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $513.77. 52,545 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 443,312. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.34. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $573.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $553.07. The company has a market capitalization of $31.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.89. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.67 and a fifty-two week high of $633.23.

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

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is currently 9.85%.

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.