Teacher Retirement System of Texas Purchases 159 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 38.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 572 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 25,242 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $13,037,000 after purchasing an additional 3,384 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 8,220 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,914,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286 shares in the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 431.3% in the fourth quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,391 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,941 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 2,448.1% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,376 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, InTrack Investment Management Inc boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc now owns 3,446 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,784,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Martin Marietta Materials

In other news, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total transaction of $632,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,673,425. This represents a 27.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Petro bought 550 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $454.37 per share, for a total transaction of $249,903.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president now owns 8,985 shares in the company, valued at $4,082,514.45. This represents a 6.52 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

NYSE:MLM opened at $484.47 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $504.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $538.26. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $448.50 and a 1-year high of $633.23. The stock has a market cap of $29.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.99, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.54% and a return on equity of 12.11%. Research analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is presently 9.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MLM shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $640.00 to $560.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wolfe Research raised 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 report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $615.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $626.50.

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.