Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Shares Bought by Westwood Holdings Group Inc.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 43,078 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 782 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned 0.07% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $23,340,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Global Assets Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 1st quarter worth $22,265,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 49.7% during the 4th quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 5,672 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,882 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,170,166 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,577,268,000 after acquiring an additional 69,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 182.5% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 73,135 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $44,901,000 after acquiring an additional 47,250 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

NYSE MLM opened at $546.29 on Friday. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $389.90 and a fifty-two week high of $626.67. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $540.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $566.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $33.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.91.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The construction company reported $4.76 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.36 by ($0.60). Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.80% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.60 earnings per share. Martin Marietta Materials’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is a positive change from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MLM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Citigroup decreased their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $658.00 to $646.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 12th. StockNews.com raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $657.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $615.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $629.82.

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.