TimesSquare Capital Management LLC Reduces Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

TimesSquare Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 1.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 108,054 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 1,080 shares during the quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC owned about 0.18% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $58,160,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MLM. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $876,648,000 after purchasing an additional 704,460 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 114.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 980,699 shares of the construction company's stock worth $602,092,000 after acquiring an additional 523,038 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 247.5% in 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 during the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the 1st quarter worth approximately $41,142,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 682.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 75,045 shares of the construction company's stock worth $40,393,000 after acquiring an additional 65,454 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MLM. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Thursday. They set a "buy" rating and a $730.00 price objective for the company. BNP Paribas raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $657.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $634.85.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 0.4 %

MLM stock traded up $2.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $619.58. The company had a trading volume of 402,853 shares, compared to its average volume of 466,622. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $37.87 billion, a PE ratio of 19.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.12 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $549.06 and a 200 day moving average of $556.31. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $448.73 and a 12 month high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $6.94 earnings per share. Martin Marietta Materials's revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.