Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. Invests $223,000 in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 447 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,042,537 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $838,421,000 after buying an additional 181,136 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 225.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,833,959 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $752,803,000 after purchasing an additional 1,270,116 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 615,467 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $252,637,000 after purchasing an additional 22,391 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 570,193 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $234,053,000 after purchasing an additional 104,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 423,953 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $211,103,000 after purchasing an additional 3,292 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE MLM traded up $8.76 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $599.79. 359,317 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 419,130. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.77, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 3.16. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $389.90 and a 52-week high of $626.67. The company’s 50-day moving average is $599.40 and its 200-day moving average is $524.28.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 31.35%. The company’s revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.16 EPS. Analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.77%.

Insider Activity at Martin Marietta Materials

In related news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $81,357,566.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,724 shares of company stock worth $16,033,760 in the last three months. 0.68% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Stephens increased their price objective 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. Wolfe Research downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Truist Financial raised their target price on 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 raised their target price on 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $600.00 target price (up from $530.00) on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $598.17.

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.