BNP Paribas Purchases New Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

BNP Paribas acquired a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,821 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $939,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $876,648,000 after acquiring an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 3rd quarter valued at about $197,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 534,801 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $295,397,000 after purchasing an additional 9,908 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,441,663,000 after purchasing an additional 506,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,189 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $614,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 2.6 %

MLM opened at $536.61 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.40. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $441.95 and a 12 month high of $633.23. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $485.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $530.06. The stock has a market cap of $32.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.60, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.36 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.54% and a return on equity of 12.11%. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.93 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total transaction of $632,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,673,425. This trade represents a 27.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Petro purchased 550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $454.37 per share, for a total transaction of $249,903.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,082,514.45. This represents a 6.52 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on MLM. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Martin Marietta Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $597.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Stephens reduced their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $491.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $603.23.

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.