Advisors Asset Management Inc. Sells 1,000 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM

Key Points

• Advisors Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 4.0%, selling 1,000 shares and holding a total of 23,809 shares valued at $11.38 million.
• Martin Marietta Materials has increased its quarterly dividend to $0.83 per share, up from the previous $0.79, representing a yield of 0.5%.
• Multiple research analysts have upgraded their ratings for Martin Marietta Materials, with target prices rising; for example, DA Davidson increased their target from $625.00 to $700.00.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 4.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,809 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $11,384,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,342,358 shares of the construction company's stock worth $3,510,602,000 after acquiring an additional 168,175 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,944,694 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,407,947,000 after buying an additional 268,928 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,940,423 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $927,775,000 after buying an additional 120,679 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,706,416 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $827,345,000 after purchasing an additional 144,270 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 58,570.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 697,592 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $333,540,000 after purchasing an additional 696,403 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MLM opened at $614.93 on Wednesday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $583.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $536.95. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $441.95 and a twelve month high of $633.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.09 billion, a PE ratio of 34.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.58 and a beta of 0.94.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The construction company reported $5.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.44 by ($0.01). Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 11.88% and a net margin of 16.47%.The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.76 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Martin Marietta Materials has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This is a positive change from Martin Marietta Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Martin Marietta Materials's payout ratio is presently 17.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MLM shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $609.00 to $637.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $625.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $548.00 to $634.00 in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $577.00 to $643.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $622.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, Director Laree E. Perez sold 1,038 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $613.32, for a total transaction of $636,626.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 15,417 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,455,554.44. The trade was a 6.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

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