Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Raises Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 27.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 55,793 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,089 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $26,770,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,990 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,435,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 104.5% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,205 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,058,000 after buying an additional 1,127 shares during the period. Fenimore Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc now owns 89,370 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $42,881,000 after buying an additional 1,224 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 5.5% during the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,057 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,467,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the period. Finally, Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 15.5% during the third quarter. Heartwood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 477 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on MLM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $680.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $530.00 price target on Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Friday. Stephens decreased their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $690.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $646.47.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

NYSE:MLM traded down $3.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $478.31. 167,184 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 591,231. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $470.19 and a 52-week high of $710.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.75, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $514.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $561.14.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The construction company reported $5.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.76 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 9.49% and a net margin of 36.73%.Martin Marietta Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.43 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st were paid a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 1st. This is an increase from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.26%.

About Martin Marietta Materials

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc is a producer and supplier of construction materials used in infrastructure, commercial, residential, and industrial projects. The company’s principal products include crushed stone, sand, gravel, cement, ready-mixed concrete, asphalt, and related paving materials.

The company serves customers primarily across the United States, with operations concentrated in major markets experiencing demand for transportation infrastructure, building construction, and other development projects.