IFP Advisors Inc Grows Stock Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM

Key Points

• IFP Advisors increased its Martin Marietta Materials stake by 34.3% in the second quarter, owning 8,714 shares valued at approximately $5.0 million. Institutional investors collectively hold 95.04% of MLM’s outstanding stock.
• Martin Marietta exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $5.00 in EPS versus the $4.76 consensus and $1.95 billion in revenue, up 21% year over year. Analysts project full-year EPS of $19.07.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.84 per share, or $3.36 annually, representing a 0.7% yield. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $667.53.

IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 34.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,714 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,227 shares during the quarter. IFP Advisors Inc's holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $5,025,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 72,704.3% in the second 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 last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,706,134,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 51.8% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,448,928 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,524,853,000 after purchasing an additional 836,120 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the second quarter worth about $1,411,047,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,553,364 shares of the construction company's stock worth $963,406,000 after acquiring an additional 10,743 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company's stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:MLM opened at $503.00 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $546.65 and a 200 day moving average of $580.07. The company has a market cap of $30.22 billion, a PE ratio of 12.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.10. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $491.61 and a 12-month high of $710.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The construction company reported $5.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.76 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.87 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 36.73% and a return on equity of 9.49%. The firm's revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.43 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.07 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.84 per share. This is a positive change from Martin Marietta Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MLM. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Thursday, May 28th. They issued a "market perform" rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $581.00 to $609.00 in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 28th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $739.00 to $715.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $667.53.

About Martin Marietta Materials

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.

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