Merit Financial Group LLC Raises Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 10.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 808 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 79 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.9% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.5% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 782 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 570 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% in the third quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 1,123 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $604,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.1% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 1,963 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,057,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $640.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased 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 report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Thursday, November 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $730.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $648.71.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MLM opened at $548.53 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $552.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $551.27. The company has a market cap of $33.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.09, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.34. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $490.05 and a one year high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.94 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.85%.

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.