California Public Employees Retirement System Cuts Stock Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 113,920 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 4,005 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $56,836,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. Schear Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 1,647 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $822,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 152 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 460 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $228,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Spreng Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 775 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $387,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 247 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MLM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $635.00 to $708.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. HSBC raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $376.00 to $543.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $621.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $595.00 price objective for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $588.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total value of $936,959.52. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,757,099.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total value of $9,063,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 134,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $81,357,566.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total transaction of $936,959.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,757,099.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 26,724 shares of company stock worth $16,033,760. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:MLM opened at $597.07 on Friday. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $343.79 and a one year high of $626.67. 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 firm has a market cap of $36.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $592.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $514.74.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The construction company reported $4.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.67. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 17.25% and a return on equity of 15.77%. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.04 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

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

About Martin Marietta Materials

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.