BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Sells 1,536 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp reduced its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 13.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,284 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 1,536 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp's holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $5,535,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $876,648,000 after acquiring an additional 704,460 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,353,936,000 after acquiring an additional 334,605 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 7,608.2% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 181,373 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $97,624,000 after acquiring an additional 179,020 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 164,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 247.5% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 148,827 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $80,634,000 after acquiring an additional 106,002 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MLM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Martin Marietta Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $658.00 to $646.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Stephens dropped their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $657.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Martin Marietta Materials to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $644.46.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock traded down $4.36 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $588.86. The stock had a trading volume of 534,660 shares, compared to its average volume of 446,251. The firm has a market cap of $35.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.35, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.89. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $456.83 and a 12 month high of $633.23. The business's 50-day moving average is $573.20 and its 200 day moving average is $555.97. 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 (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 30.47%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.94 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.