Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Sells 92 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,595 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 92 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $1,340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MLM. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 91.9% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MLM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $640.00 to $560.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $491.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays cut their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $559.00 to $609.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $599.69.

Insider Activity

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, SVP Michael J. Petro bought 550 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $454.37 per share, with a total value of $249,903.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 8,985 shares in the company, valued at $4,082,514.45. The trade was a 6.52% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total transaction of $632,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,673,425. The trade was a 27.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $542.30 on Thursday. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $441.95 and a 1 year high of $633.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The company has a market capitalization of $32.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.77, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $494.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $528.96.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during 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%. Martin Marietta Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.93 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is presently 18.20%.

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.