HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Takes $519,000 Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,041 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $519,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 8,562 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,272,000 after acquiring an additional 1,728 shares during the period. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 49.7% in the 4th quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 5,672 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,882 shares in the last quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 166.1% in the 4th quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 2,725 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,701 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,284,000. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MLM. HSBC raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $376.00 to $543.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $600.00 target price (up from $530.00) on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $635.00 to $708.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $621.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $610.27.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 2.7 %

MLM stock opened at $558.62 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $581.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $553.19. 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, 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 31.35% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.16 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 23.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Martin Marietta Materials’s 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.