Stablepoint Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Stablepoint Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 913 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $472,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MLM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% during the third 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised 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 buying an additional 334,605 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $876,648,000 after acquiring an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 534,801 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $295,397,000 after acquiring an additional 9,908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 467,782 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $251,784,000 after acquiring an additional 164,503 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE MLM opened at $548.40 on Monday. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $490.05 and a one year high of $633.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.34. The company has a market capitalization of $33.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $550.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $551.56.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.41 by ($0.50). The business had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.47% and a return on equity of 12.53%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.94 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MLM. BNP Paribas lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $730.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of 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. HSBC raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $648.71.

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.