Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM Shares Sold by Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD has reduced its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 72.9%, selling 559,805 shares, while still holding around 208,277 shares valued at approximately $99.6 million.
• Martin Marietta Materials is set to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.83 on September 30th, an increase from the previous dividend of $0.79, with an annualized yield of 0.5%.
• Analysts have upgraded Martin Marietta's stock ratings, with UBS upgrading it to a "buy" and increasing the target price from $548.00 to $634.00, reflecting positive market sentiment.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lessened its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 72.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 208,277 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 559,805 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.35% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $99,585,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of 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. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 6.6% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,940,423 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $927,775,000 after purchasing an additional 120,679 shares during the period. Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 771,198 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $398,324,000 after purchasing an additional 245,000 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company's stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

MLM opened at $604.9990 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.49 billion, a PE ratio of 33.56, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.89. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $574.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $533.31. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $441.95 and a twelve month high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The construction company reported $5.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.76 earnings per share. Martin Marietta Materials has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. This is a positive change from Martin Marietta Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MLM shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $548.00 to $634.00 in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $577.00 to $643.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. DA Davidson boosted their price target 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $576.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $622.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, Director Laree E. Perez sold 1,038 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $613.32, for a total value of $636,626.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 15,417 shares in the company, valued at $9,455,554.44. The trade was a 6.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.69% of the stock is owned by 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.

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