Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM Shares Purchased by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 47.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,818 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 15,162 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.08% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $22,160,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Laree E. Perez sold 1,038 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 15,417 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,455,554.44. This represents a 6.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:MLM traded up $3.09 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $617.31. The stock had a trading volume of 283,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 368,412. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $591.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $541.04. 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 cap of $37.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 5.57 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.

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 analyst estimates 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.76 EPS. Martin Marietta Materials has set its FY 2025 guidance at 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 Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors 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 yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from Martin Marietta Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $700.00 price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Monday, August 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $609.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $576.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $525.00 price target (up previously from $515.00) on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Friday, August 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $622.63.

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.