Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Buys New Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. bought a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 32,592 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $16,833,000. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. owned 0.05% of Martin Marietta Materials as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 91.9% in the 4th 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. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Martin Marietta Materials

In related news, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,523 shares in the company, valued at $1,673,425. This represents a 27.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Petro purchased 550 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $454.37 per share, for a total transaction of $249,903.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,985 shares in the company, valued at $4,082,514.45. This represents a 6.52 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.68% of the company's stock.

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Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of MLM traded up $11.85 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $489.30. The company had a trading volume of 706,041 shares, compared to its average volume of 457,677. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $448.50 and a 1 year high of $633.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.13, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.50. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $514.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $540.88.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 12.11% and a net margin of 30.54%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Martin Marietta Materials's payout ratio is 9.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MLM shares. Wolfe Research raised Martin Marietta Materials from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $563.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $680.00 to $645.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $634.36.

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.