Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM Shares Acquired by First Manhattan CO. LLC.

Key Points

• First Manhattan Co. LLC increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.8%, owning 35,595 shares valued at approximately $17 million as of the latest filing with the SEC.
• Martin Marietta Materials recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.83, raised from the previous $0.79, with an ex-dividend date on September 2nd.
• Despite reporting EPS of $5.43 for the last quarter, the company missed the consensus estimate by $0.01, with revenue reaching $1.81 billion, also below estimates.

First Manhattan CO. LLC. lifted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 2.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,595 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 978 shares during the period. First Manhattan CO. LLC. owned about 0.06% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $17,019,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MLM. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 58,570.5% in the first 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. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 1,880.3% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 369,382 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $176,613,000 after purchasing an additional 350,729 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 10.1% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,944,694 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,407,947,000 after purchasing an additional 268,928 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 39.2% in the first quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 659,363 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $315,261,000 after purchasing an additional 185,731 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,342,358 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $3,510,602,000 after purchasing an additional 168,175 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MLM. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $625.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $548.00 to $634.00 in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Bank of America raised their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $577.00 to $643.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $700.00 price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $622.63.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 1.4%

Martin Marietta Materials stock traded up $8.28 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $619.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 413,643 shares, compared to its average volume of 406,843. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $586.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $538.08. The company has a market cap of $37.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.36, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.94. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $441.95 and a fifty-two week 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.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.88 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 11.88% and a net margin of 16.47%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.76 EPS. Martin Marietta Materials has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a $0.83 dividend. This is a boost from Martin Marietta Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Martin Marietta Materials's payout ratio is currently 18.41%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Laree E. Perez sold 1,038 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $613.32, for a total value of $636,626.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 15,417 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,455,554.44. This represents a 6.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.