IFM Investors Pty Ltd Acquires 1,429 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 13.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,237 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 1,429 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $5,851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in 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 valued at $333,540,000 after purchasing an additional 696,403 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter worth about $306,863,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $196,374,000. Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 46.6% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,562,146 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $808,005,000 after purchasing an additional 148,065 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of 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 report on Friday, May 16th. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $615.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $559.00 to $609.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $640.00 to $560.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $561.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $603.86.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock traded up $6.31 on Wednesday, hitting $565.40. 153,502 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 480,737. The company has a market cap of $34.08 billion, a PE ratio of 32.57, a PEG ratio of 5.05 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $441.95 and a 12-month high of $633.23. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $548.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $520.34.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 16.07%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.93 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.20%.

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.