Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Shares Sold by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 8.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,636 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 2,229 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $14,511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MLM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,170,166 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,577,268,000 after acquiring an additional 69,701 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 114.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 980,699 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $602,092,000 after acquiring an additional 523,038 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $308,705,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 615,396 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $307,026,000 after acquiring an additional 27,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 423,953 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $211,103,000 after acquiring 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 1.9 %

Shares of MLM stock traded up $11.15 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $588.00. 22,764 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 433,723. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $389.90 and a fifty-two week high of $626.67. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $555.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $565.63. 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 has a market cap of $36.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.09, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.91.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.05. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 31.35%. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 22.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on MLM shares. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $710.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $642.00 to $737.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Citigroup cut their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $696.00 to $658.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $660.00 to $665.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $628.91.

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.