Tran Capital Management L.P. Lowers Stock Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Tran Capital Management L.P. cut its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,616 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 2,594 shares during the quarter. Martin Marietta Materials comprises approximately 3.0% of Tran Capital Management L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Tran Capital Management L.P. owned approximately 0.08% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $26,143,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. Fenimore Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc now owns 79,907 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $41,272,000 after buying an additional 525 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 7,005 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,618,000 after acquiring an additional 1,382 shares during the period. LexAurum Advisors LLC grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. LexAurum Advisors LLC now owns 633 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $327,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Hengehold Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 48.4% during the fourth quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 754 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 2,241 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,157,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MLM shares. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $640.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. HSBC upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $648.71.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MLM opened at $548.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $33.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.09, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.91. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $550.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $551.52. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $490.05 and a 52-week high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued 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). The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 30.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.94 EPS. Analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.85%.

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.