Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Shares Acquired by Forsta AP Fonden

Forsta AP Fonden increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 24.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 22,100 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,300 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $11,415,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MLM. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $876,648,000 after acquiring an additional 704,460 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,441,663,000 after purchasing an additional 506,705 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,353,936,000 after purchasing an additional 334,605 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 7,608.2% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 181,373 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $97,624,000 after purchasing an additional 179,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 467,782 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $251,784,000 after purchasing an additional 164,503 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MLM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays boosted their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $648.71.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of MLM stock opened at $546.39 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $548.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $551.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.39 billion, a PE ratio of 17.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 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. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $490.05 and a 1-year high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.47% and a return on equity of 12.53%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was 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.