Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Shares Sold by Sapient Capital LLC

Sapient Capital LLC decreased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 1.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,618 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 396 shares during the quarter. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $14,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,174,183 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,705,466,000 after purchasing an additional 36,531 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,819,744 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $939,898,000 after purchasing an additional 191,043 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,562,146 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $808,005,000 after purchasing an additional 148,065 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,472,411 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $758,499,000 after acquiring an additional 32,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 54,277.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 918,432 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $474,370,000 after acquiring an additional 916,743 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MLM. Wall Street Zen cut Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $559.00 to $609.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James reduced their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $597.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $615.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Stephens reduced their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $610.69.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

NYSE MLM opened at $545.95 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $526.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $523.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.50. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.02. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.11% and a net margin of 30.54%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.93 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.20%.

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.