HighTower Advisors LLC Has $26.53 Million Stock Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,263 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 4,034 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned about 0.08% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $26,533,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 241.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,024,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 13.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 167 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 2,512 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,361,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 16.7% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 847 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $459,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 54,639 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $29,603,000 after buying an additional 721 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MLM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $657.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Stephens lowered their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $658.00 to $646.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $644.46.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

MLM traded down $1.21 during trading on Friday, hitting $581.18. The company's stock had a trading volume of 397,360 shares, compared to its average volume of 445,659. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $574.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $556.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $458.58 and a 12 month high of $633.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.89.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $6.94 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.58 earnings per share 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 dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.85%.

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.