Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Holdings Reduced by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 24.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 255,715 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 83,624 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.42% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $132,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MLM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,174,183 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $3,705,466,000 after purchasing an additional 36,531 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,441,663,000 after purchasing an additional 506,705 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,819,744 shares of the construction company's stock worth $939,898,000 after purchasing an additional 191,043 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,562,146 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $808,005,000 after purchasing an additional 148,065 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,472,411 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $758,499,000 after buying an additional 32,082 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MLM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $640.00 to $560.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. UBS Group cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $491.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Raymond James cut their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $615.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $609.43.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of MLM traded down $4.06 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $498.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 173,344 shares, compared to its average volume of 488,491. The company has a market cap of $30.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a fifty day moving average of $489.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $533.50. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $441.95 and a twelve month high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials's payout ratio is currently 9.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,523 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,673,425. The trade was a 27.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Michael J. Petro bought 550 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.