First Horizon Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 27.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 383 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $191,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MLM. Amalgamated Bank grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.5% in the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 16,460 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,757,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 166.1% during the 4th quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 2,725 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,701 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,284,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 199.8% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 4,791 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,390,000 after buying an additional 3,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 5,739 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,863,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Martin Marietta Materials

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,757,099.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total value of $9,063,900.00. Following the sale, 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 the SEC website. Also, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,757,099.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 26,724 shares of company stock valued at $16,033,760. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MLM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $600.00 price target (up from $530.00) on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Raymond James raised their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted 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. StockNews.com upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Stephens lifted their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $575.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $598.17.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MLM stock opened at $591.03 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.51, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $598.46 and a 200 day moving average of $522.94. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $384.61 and a 52 week high of $626.67. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.16 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.77%.

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.