American Investment Services Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

American Investment Services Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,209 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 43 shares during the quarter. American Investment Services Inc.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $3,723,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MLM. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MLM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Martin Marietta Materials from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $640.00 to $560.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Raymond James decreased their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $597.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Martin Marietta Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $615.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $610.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total transaction of $632,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,673,425. This trade represents a 27.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Petro bought 550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $454.37 per share, for a total transaction of $249,903.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the senior vice president now owns 8,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,082,514.45. This trade represents a 6.52% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of MLM stock opened at $561.76 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $509.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $526.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.87 billion, a PE ratio of 17.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $441.95 and a fifty-two week high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.11% and a net margin of 30.54%. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.20%.

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.