T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 53.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,606,702 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,857,251 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 2.63% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $829,862,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $690,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,020 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $527,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 447 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 483 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 835 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $431,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

MLM stock opened at $490.86 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.50. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $484.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $531.99. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $441.95 and a one year high of $633.23. The company has a market capitalization of $29.75 billion, a PE ratio of 15.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.81.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.54% and a return on equity of 12.11%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is presently 9.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Martin Marietta Materials

In other news, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total transaction of $632,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,673,425. This represents a 27.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Petro purchased 550 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $454.37 per share, for a total transaction of $249,903.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,082,514.45. The trade was a 6.52 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MLM has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $559.00 price objective for the company. 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, January 8th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $491.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, April 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $599.62.

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.