Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Acquires 3,384 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 15.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,242 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,384 shares during the quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $13,037,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MLM. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,785 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $19,388,000 after purchasing an additional 1,637 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 5,856.3% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 953 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the period. Choreo LLC bought a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $935,000. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 556 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 19.5% during the second quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 12,521 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,784,000 after purchasing an additional 2,045 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

NYSE:MLM traded down $9.98 on Friday, reaching $507.27. 123,398 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 346,675. The firm has a market cap of $31.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.91. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $565.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $551.40. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $489.90 and a 52 week high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 30.47%. The company’s revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.94 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on MLM shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $730.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $643.36.

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.