Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 35 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Sentry Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 324 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 35 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $162,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 225.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,833,959 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $752,803,000 after acquiring an additional 1,270,116 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter worth $197,591,000. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 51.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 737,821 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $249,362,000 after purchasing an additional 251,047 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,042,537 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $838,421,000 after purchasing an additional 181,136 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 147.2% during the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 202,847 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $93,651,000 after buying an additional 120,787 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MLM. Raymond James lifted their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Stephens upped their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $575.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. HSBC raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $376.00 to $543.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $595.00 price target on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $588.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total value of $6,032,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,179,301.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Martin Marietta Materials news, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total transaction of $6,032,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,179,301.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total transaction of $9,063,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 134,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $81,357,566.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,724 shares of company stock worth $16,033,760 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $592.46 on Thursday. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $343.79 and a 52 week high of $626.67. The firm has a market cap of $36.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a current ratio of 3.35. The business’s fifty day moving average is $583.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $507.61.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The construction company reported $4.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.67. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 17.25% and a return on equity of 15.77%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.04 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.72%.

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.