Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 3,700 Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,700 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,846,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. FMR LLC raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 225.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,833,959 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $752,803,000 after acquiring an additional 1,270,116 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $197,591,000. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 51.6% during 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 period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in 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 increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 147.2% during the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 202,847 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $93,651,000 after purchasing an additional 120,787 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Martin Marietta Materials

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total transaction of $936,959.52. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,757,099.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Martin Marietta Materials news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total transaction of $936,959.52. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,757,099.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total value of $9,063,900.00. Following 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,724 shares of company stock worth $16,033,760. 0.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on MLM. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Monday, January 8th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $595.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research cut Martin Marietta Materials from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. HSBC upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $376.00 to $543.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Stephens upped their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $575.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $588.69.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MLM opened at $587.13 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $586.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $508.75. The stock has a market cap of $36.24 billion, a PE ratio of 31.18, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $343.79 and a one year high of $626.67.

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

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

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

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.