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

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 15.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 25,242 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,384 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $13,037,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,441,663,000 after acquiring an additional 506,705 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,353,936,000 after purchasing an additional 334,605 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 valued at $876,648,000 after purchasing an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 623,681 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $337,903,000 after purchasing an additional 12,759 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 534,801 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $295,397,000 after buying an additional 9,908 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock traded down $9.98 on Friday, reaching $507.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 123,398 shares, compared to its average volume of 346,675. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $489.90 and a 52 week high of $633.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $565.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $551.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 2.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization 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.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly 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). Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 30.47%. The firm had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $6.94 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MLM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded 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. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup lowered 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 report on Monday. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.