Shellback Capital LP Invests $42.86 Million in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Shellback Capital LP purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 120,703 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,857,000. Martin Marietta Materials accounts for approximately 4.8% of Shellback Capital LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,850,912 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,636,848,000 after acquiring an additional 105,535 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 107.2% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,262,083 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $764,516,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170,464 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,436,140 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $509,753,000 after purchasing an additional 287,139 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,259,007 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $424,720,000 after buying an additional 24,646 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 8.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 919,179 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $353,783,000 after buying an additional 70,072 shares during the last quarter. 93.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MLM opened at $438.09 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $27.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.75, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.90. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $298.32 and a twelve month high of $463.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 2.21. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $449.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $404.15.

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

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 1st will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. This is a positive change from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 31st. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is 19.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Craig M. Latorre sold 1,934 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $431.68, for a total transaction of $834,869.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 9,731 shares in the company, valued at $4,200,678.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Martin Marietta Materials news, VP Craig M. Latorre sold 1,934 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $431.68, for a total transaction of $834,869.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 9,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,200,678.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Craig M. Latorre sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $447.09, for a total transaction of $223,545.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,215,304.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MLM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $410.00 to $493.00 in a research note on Friday, July 14th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $446.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 28th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $460.00 to $527.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $460.00 to $530.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $471.43.

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.