California Public Employees Retirement System Cuts Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 97,320 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 6,655 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.16% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $50,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MLM. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 91.9% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the construction company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MLM traded down $14.64 during trading on Friday, reaching $470.33. The company had a trading volume of 889,629 shares, compared to its average volume of 483,187. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $448.50 and a twelve month high of $633.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $500.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $537.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.68 billion, a PE ratio of 14.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.81.

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Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.54% and a return on equity of 12.11%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, SVP Michael J. Petro acquired 550 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $454.37 per share, for a total transaction of $249,903.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,985 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,082,514.45. This trade represents a 6.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total value of $632,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,523 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,673,425. This represents a 27.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MLM shares. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Martin Marietta Materials to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $640.00 to $560.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $626.50.

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.