Kovack Advisors Inc. Invests $734,000 in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Kovack Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,363 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $734,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MLM. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company's stock worth $876,648,000 after buying an additional 704,460 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 114.3% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 980,699 shares of the construction company's stock worth $602,092,000 after purchasing an additional 523,038 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.1% during the second 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. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% during the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 465,703 shares of the construction company's stock worth $252,318,000 after purchasing an additional 11,749 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MLM shares. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $658.00 to $646.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $657.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $560.00 to $515.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $634.85.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of MLM stock traded down $17.30 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $587.96. 467,603 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 447,718. 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 $451.37 and a 12-month high of $633.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.90. The company's 50-day moving average price is $554.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $556.80.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.47% and a return on equity of 12.53%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio is 9.85%.

Martin Marietta Materials 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.