Park Avenue Securities LLC Has $1.01 Million Stock Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Park Avenue Securities LLC trimmed its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 19.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,951 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 479 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $1,008,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $876,648,000 after purchasing an additional 704,460 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,441,663,000 after purchasing an additional 506,705 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,353,936,000 after purchasing an additional 334,605 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 7,608.2% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 181,373 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $97,624,000 after purchasing an additional 179,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 467,782 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $251,784,000 after purchasing an additional 164,503 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MLM opened at $543.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $554.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $551.16. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $490.05 and a 1-year high of $633.23. The firm has a market cap of $33.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $6.94 earnings per share. Martin Marietta Materials’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is currently 9.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on MLM. BNP Paribas lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Hsbc Global Res raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays upped their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, HSBC raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $648.71.

Martin Marietta Materials 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.