Quest Partners LLC Takes Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,179 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $588,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MLM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,042,537 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $838,421,000 after purchasing an additional 181,136 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 225.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,833,959 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $752,803,000 after purchasing an additional 1,270,116 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $308,705,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 615,467 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $252,637,000 after purchasing an additional 22,391 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 615,396 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $307,026,000 after purchasing an additional 27,775 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MLM opened at $573.78 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $599.75 and a 200 day moving average of $538.46. The stock has a market cap of $35.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.95. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $389.90 and a 12 month high of $626.67. The company has a current ratio of 3.16, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.05. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 31.35% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.16 earnings per share. Martin Marietta Materials’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is presently 8.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on MLM. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $621.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $575.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. HSBC raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $376.00 to $543.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $635.00 to $708.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $642.00 to $737.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $610.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Martin Marietta Materials

In other news, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total value of $9,063,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 134,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $81,357,566.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total transaction of $6,032,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,179,301.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the company’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $81,357,566.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.