Aviso Financial Inc. Grows Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM

Key Points

• Aviso Financial Inc. increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 18% in Q1, reaching a total of 3,489 shares worth $1,668,000.
• Martin Marietta Materials recently received multiple analyst upgrades, with price targets increased from $576 to as high as $645, indicating a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.83 per share, up from $0.79, reflecting a payout ratio of 17.53% and a dividend yield of 0.5%.

Aviso Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 18.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,489 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 533 shares during the period. Aviso Financial Inc.'s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $1,668,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MLM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $525.00 price target (up from $515.00) on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $576.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $548.00 to $634.00 in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Martin Marietta Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $622.63.

Insider Activity at Martin Marietta Materials

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, Director Laree E. Perez sold 1,038 shares of the business's 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 sale, the director directly owned 15,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,455,554.44. The trade was a 6.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.68% of the company's stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

NYSE:MLM opened at $609.68 on Monday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $567.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $530.64. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $441.95 and a 1-year high of $633.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market cap of $36.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 0.89.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The construction company reported $5.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $5.44 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.88 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 11.88%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.76 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

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

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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