The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Purchases Shares of 30,157 Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 30,157 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,392,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,706,134,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 51.8% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,448,928 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,524,853,000 after acquiring an additional 836,120 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,399,779 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,412,702,000 after acquiring an additional 21,310 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,553,364 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $963,406,000 after acquiring an additional 10,743 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,367,016 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $851,188,000 after purchasing an additional 68,382 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MLM shares. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $737.00 to $690.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Wolfe Research set a $648.00 price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $665.88.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

MLM opened at $531.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average of $562.81 and a 200 day moving average of $591.20. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $522.19 and a fifty-two week high of $710.97.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The construction company reported $5.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.76 by $0.24. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 36.73% and a return on equity of 9.49%. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.43 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a $0.84 dividend. This is an increase from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.16%.

About Martin Marietta Materials

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.