Hilltop National Bank Boosts Stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Hilltop National Bank grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 17.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 166 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 25 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $86,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,441,663,000 after buying an additional 506,705 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,353,936,000 after buying an additional 334,605 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $876,648,000 after buying an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 623,681 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $337,903,000 after acquiring an additional 12,759 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 534,801 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $295,397,000 after acquiring an additional 9,908 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

NYSE:MLM opened at $508.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.85, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50-day moving average is $563.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $551.17. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $489.90 and a 1-year high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.41 by ($0.50). Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.47% and a return on equity of 12.53%. The firm had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.58 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $730.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Two investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $643.36.

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.