SailingStone Capital Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM

SailingStone Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 203.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,147 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 15,527 shares during the period. Martin Marietta Materials accounts for approximately 2.6% of SailingStone Capital Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. SailingStone Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $13,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 72,704.3% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 51,073,705 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $29,454,206,000 after acquiring an additional 51,003,553 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,706,134,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the second quarter worth approximately $1,411,047,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 51.8% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,448,928 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,524,853,000 after purchasing an additional 836,120 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $354,681,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MLM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials to an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. DA Davidson initiated coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Monday, August 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $625.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Oppenheimer started coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $667.53.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of MLM stock opened at $503.20 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $502.36 and a fifty-two week high of $710.97. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $548.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $581.36. The stock has a market cap of $30.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.10.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The construction company reported $5.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.76 by $0.24. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 36.73% and a return on equity of 9.49%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.43 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.07 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is currently 8.26%.

Martin Marietta Materials Profile

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc is a U.S.-based supplier of construction aggregates and other building materials. The company produces crushed stone, sand and gravel used in infrastructure, commercial, residential and industrial construction projects.

Its products and services also include cement, ready-mixed concrete, asphalt and paving materials. Martin Marietta serves customers involved in roads, bridges, airports, buildings and other essential infrastructure, with operations concentrated across several regions of the United States.

The company was established in 1993 as an independent, publicly traded materials business formed from the construction materials operations of Martin Marietta Corporation.