Geode Capital Management LLC Decreases Stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Geode Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,440,329 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 80,834 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 2.36% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $772,589,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $876,648,000 after purchasing an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.1% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted 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 worth $251,784,000 after purchasing an additional 164,503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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 buying an additional 11,749 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MLM has been the topic of several research reports. Loop Capital raised 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. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Martin Marietta Materials from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the company from $515.00 to $640.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $655.77.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of MLM traded down $2.89 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $557.29. 280,960 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 444,452. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $478.53 and a 52-week high of $633.23. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $578.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $555.97. The firm has a market cap of $34.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.89.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last released its 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). Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.47% and a return on equity of 12.53%. The firm had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.94 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.