Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Shares Sold by Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. cut its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,365 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 30 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,270,116 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 9.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,042,537 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $838,421,000 after purchasing an additional 181,136 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 22.6% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 570,193 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $234,053,000 after purchasing an additional 104,981 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the third quarter worth about $34,736,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 96.6% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 157,904 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $78,780,000 after buying an additional 77,596 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on MLM shares. HSBC raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $376.00 to $543.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $575.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target 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. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $635.00 to $708.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $598.17.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE MLM opened at $603.20 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $601.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $526.64. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $389.90 and a 52-week high of $626.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.87, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.95.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 31.35%. The business’s revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.16 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.7 earnings per share 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. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.77%.

Insider Activity

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total value of $6,032,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 59,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,179,301.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total value of $936,959.52. Following the sale, the director now owns 19,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,757,099.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total transaction of $6,032,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 59,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,179,301.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 26,724 shares of company stock valued at $16,033,760. Company insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

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.