Ethic Inc. Sells 1,655 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Ethic Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 20.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,261 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 1,655 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $3,234,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fiduciary Trust Co raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 1,812 shares of the construction company's stock worth $936,000 after buying an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 34,617 shares of the construction company's stock worth $17,880,000 after buying an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 218,110 shares of the construction company's stock worth $112,654,000 after buying an additional 42,304 shares in the last quarter. Concentric Capital Strategies LP bought a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $3,028,000. Finally, Crestline Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth about $5,527,000. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MLM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $597.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays dropped their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $670.00 to $610.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Loop Capital reduced their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $615.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $640.00 to $560.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $599.69.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MLM traded down $1.59 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $542.30. The stock had a trading volume of 419,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 486,496. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $441.95 and a 52 week high of $633.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.77, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $494.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $528.96.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.36 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.54% and a return on equity of 12.11%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.93 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Martin Marietta Materials

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, SVP Michael J. Petro purchased 550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $454.37 per share, with a total value of $249,903.50. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,985 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,082,514.45. This represents a 6.52% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total transaction of $632,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,523 shares in the company, valued at $1,673,425. This trade represents a 27.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

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.