JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires 506,705 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,678,425 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 506,705 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 4.38% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $1,441,663,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% during 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. FMR LLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 334,605 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 7,608.2% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 181,373 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $97,624,000 after buying an additional 179,020 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 467,782 shares of the construction company's stock worth $251,784,000 after acquiring an additional 164,503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 247.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 148,827 shares of the construction company's stock worth $80,634,000 after acquiring an additional 106,002 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE MLM traded down $3.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $528.84. The company had a trading volume of 249,300 shares, compared to its average volume of 444,785. The stock has a market cap of $32.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.89. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $479.67 and a 52 week high of $633.23. The business's 50-day moving average is $577.26 and its 200-day moving average is $554.14. 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 issued 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). 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.94 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

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 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio is 9.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MLM shares. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BNP Paribas cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $653.08.

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.