Covea Finance Grows Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Covea Finance grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 19.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 30,190 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Covea Finance’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $16,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Taylor Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $237,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $565,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 916 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. American International Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 16,694 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $8,329,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 248,983 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $124,220,000 after acquiring an additional 3,027 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MLM shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $560.00 to $515.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. BNP Paribas raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $619.36.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Martin Marietta Materials stock traded up $10.38 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $544.90. 270,725 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 444,612. The company has a market cap of $33.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $389.90 and a twelve month high of $626.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $530.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $560.25.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 13.85% and a net margin of 30.80%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.60 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.60%.

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.