Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stock Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 271,303 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 3,658 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.45% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $168,930,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MLM. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 577.0% during the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,764 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,208 shares in the last quarter. RD Lewis Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. RD Lewis Holdings Inc. now owns 3,411 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,262,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 266.9% during the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,940 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after acquiring an additional 2,866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FourThought Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 339 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MLM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $675.00 to $640.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Loop Capital cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $690.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $608.00 to $614.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $702.00 to $664.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, UBS Group set a $739.00 price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $689.81.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $575.23 on Thursday. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $525.38 and a 1 year high of $710.97. The firm has a market cap of $34.54 billion, a PE ratio of 13.71, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 2.28 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $590.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $621.63.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.15. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 38.67% and a return on equity of 10.27%. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. Martin Marietta Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is presently 7.91%.

Martin Marietta Materials Profile

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc (NYSE: MLM) is a leading producer of aggregates and heavy building materials serving the construction and infrastructure markets. The company operates quarries, sand and gravel pits, and other extraction sites to supply crushed stone, sand and gravel, and a range of value‑added products for use in roads, bridges, commercial and residential construction, and other civil engineering projects.

In addition to its core aggregates business, Martin Marietta manufactures and sells asphalt, ready‑mixed concrete and related materials and services.