Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group Acquires 26 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 74.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $30,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the first quarter valued at $46,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 4.0% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 391,276 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $150,599,000 after buying an additional 15,163 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 0.4% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 9,391 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,615,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Prudential PLC purchased a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the first quarter valued at $456,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 12.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 950 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $366,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of MLM stock opened at $587.13 on Friday. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $343.79 and a fifty-two week high of $626.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.18, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a current ratio of 3.35. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $586.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $508.75.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The construction company reported $4.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.67. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 15.77% and a net margin of 17.25%. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.04 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is 15.72%.

Insider Transactions at Martin Marietta Materials

In related news, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total transaction of $9,063,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 134,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $81,357,566.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total transaction of $9,063,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 134,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $81,357,566.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total value of $6,032,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,179,301.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,724 shares of company stock worth $16,033,760. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $635.00 to $708.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $621.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $600.00 price target (up previously from $530.00) on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Stephens lifted their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $575.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Martin Marietta Materials from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $588.69.

Martin Marietta Materials Company 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.