MML Investors Services LLC Has $4.37 Million Stock Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

MML Investors Services LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 12.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,117 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,187 shares during the quarter. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $4,369,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 334,605 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 623,681 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $337,903,000 after buying an additional 12,759 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 467,782 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $251,784,000 after buying an additional 164,503 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 465,703 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $252,318,000 after buying an additional 11,749 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MLM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of 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 report on Wednesday, November 27th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. HSBC upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $655.77.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of MLM opened at $550.92 on Friday. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $479.67 and a fifty-two week high of $633.23. The business has a 50-day moving average of $578.63 and a 200 day moving average of $555.97. The firm has a market cap of $33.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.34.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.41 by ($0.50). The business had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 30.47%. Martin Marietta Materials’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.94 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.58 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is currently 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.