Ballentine Partners LLC Grows Stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,281 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $662,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 0.9% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,144,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 782 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 570 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 447 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Counselors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% in the third quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 1,123 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MLM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup cut their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Thursday, November 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $730.00 target price for the company. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $640.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $648.71.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of MLM stock opened at $549.83 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $553.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $551.28. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $490.05 and a 52-week high of $633.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.91.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.41 by ($0.50). The business had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 30.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.85%.

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.