Bank of Montreal Can Raises Stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 3.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,647 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,622 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned about 0.09% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $28,383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $876,648,000 after acquiring an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 12,759 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.6% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 0.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 382,919 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $206,106,000 after buying an additional 2,237 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MLM. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $730.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. BNP Paribas raised Martin Marietta Materials to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $644.46.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of MLM stock traded up $4.40 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $600.00. 184,946 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 446,317. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $571.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $556.23. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $456.83 and a fifty-two week high of $633.23. The firm has a market cap of $36.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.34.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last posted 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). Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 30.47%. The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $6.94 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.58 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.85%.

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.