Benjamin Edwards Inc. Has $29,000 Stock Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 78.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 59 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $29,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. acquired a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group lifted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 74.3% in the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 61 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 144.4% during the third quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 66 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $591.03 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $598.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $522.18. The company has a current ratio of 3.16, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $384.61 and a 12-month high of $626.67. The company has a market cap of $36.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.51, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.95.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 31.35% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.16 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is 8.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $621.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Stephens upped their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $575.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wolfe Research lowered Martin Marietta Materials from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $635.00 to $708.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, HSBC raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $376.00 to $543.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $588.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total transaction of $9,063,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 134,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $81,357,566.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total transaction of $9,063,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 134,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $81,357,566.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total transaction of $936,959.52. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,793 shares in the company, valued at $10,757,099.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,724 shares of company stock worth $16,033,760 over the last ninety days. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.