Hardin Capital Partners LLC Makes New $379,000 Investment in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Hardin Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 700 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $379,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the 1st quarter worth about $22,265,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 8,562 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,272,000 after purchasing an additional 1,728 shares in the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 49.7% in the fourth quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 5,672 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,882 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,170,166 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,577,268,000 after purchasing an additional 69,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 60,499 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $29,161,000 after buying an additional 4,383 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $657.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $660.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Stephens lowered their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $658.00 to $646.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $629.82.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE MLM opened at $515.33 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.27, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.91. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $389.90 and a 52 week high of $626.67. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $541.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $568.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.86.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The construction company reported $4.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.36 by ($0.60). The business had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.80% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.60 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 3rd. This is an increase from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.