Merit Financial Group LLC Lowers Stock Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Merit Financial Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 881 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 57 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $439,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.2% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,243,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 9.9% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 6,834 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,805,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the third quarter valued at approximately $430,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 5,295 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,141,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 12,418 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,097,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Martin Marietta Materials

In other news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,757,099.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,757,099.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were 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 owns 134,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $81,357,566.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,724 shares of company stock valued at $16,033,760 over the last 90 days. 0.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on MLM. Truist Financial raised their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $642.00 to $737.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $621.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $635.00 to $708.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $575.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $598.17.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 0.2 %

MLM opened at $598.81 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $600.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $525.61. The company has a market cap of $36.91 billion, a PE ratio of 17.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.95. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $389.90 and a 1 year high of $626.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 3.16.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.05. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 31.35% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The company had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.16 earnings per share. Martin Marietta Materials’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.77%.

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.