Korea Investment CORP Acquires 34,616 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Korea Investment CORP grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 90.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,034 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,616 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.12% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $25,931,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Family Firm Inc. raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Family Firm Inc. now owns 653 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $232,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,982 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $670,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,141 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 10,526 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,737,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 1,505 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $535,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. 93.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MLM. Raymond James upped their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $416.00 to $484.00 in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $410.00 to $493.00 in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $460.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $470.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 24th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $471.43.

Insider Buying and Selling at Martin Marietta Materials

In other news, VP Craig M. Latorre sold 1,934 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $431.68, for a total value of $834,869.12. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 9,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,200,678.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, VP Craig M. Latorre sold 1,934 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $431.68, for a total value of $834,869.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 9,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,200,678.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Craig M. Latorre sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $447.09, for a total transaction of $223,545.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,665 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,215,304.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.59% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of MLM opened at $446.41 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $450.01 and its 200 day moving average is $400.63. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $298.32 and a 12-month high of $463.41. The company has a market capitalization of $27.66 billion, a PE ratio of 29.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.90.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The construction company reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.83 by $0.77. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 14.68% and a return on equity of 13.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 1st will be paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 31st. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. This is a boost from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is presently 17.32%.

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.