Merit Financial Group LLC Has $439,000 Stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Merit Financial Group LLC trimmed its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 881 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 57 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $439,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MLM. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 144.4% in the 3rd quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 66 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 78.8% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 59 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 84.6% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 72 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Martin Marietta Materials

In related news, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 134,640 shares in the company, valued at $81,357,566.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Martin Marietta Materials news, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 134,640 shares in the company, valued at $81,357,566.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total value of $6,032,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 59,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,179,301.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 26,724 shares of company stock worth $16,033,760. 0.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MLM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $600.00 price objective (up from $530.00) on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. HSBC raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $376.00 to $543.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $621.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $598.17.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $598.81 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 3.16. The firm has a market cap of $36.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s fifty day moving average is $600.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $525.61. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $389.90 and a 52 week high of $626.67.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 31.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.16 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.77%.

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.