Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Boosts Stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,739 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $2,863,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group lifted its position 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 worth $30,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 144.4% in the third quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 66 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total transaction of $6,032,900.00. Following the transaction, 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 the SEC website. In other news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total value of $936,959.52. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,757,099.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total value of $6,032,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 59,970 shares in the company, valued at $36,179,301.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,724 shares of company stock worth $16,033,760 in the last ninety days. 0.59% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James upped their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Wolfe Research downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $621.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $588.69.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of MLM stock opened at $594.68 on Wednesday. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $343.79 and a 52-week high of $626.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a current ratio of 3.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $589.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $513.61.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The construction company reported $4.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.67. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 15.77% and a net margin of 17.25%. Martin Marietta Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.04 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is currently 15.72%.

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.