Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Boosts Stock Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Key Points

• Mawer Investment Management Ltd. has increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 4.6%, now owning approximately 0.48% of the company, valued at around $138.9 million.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Martin Marietta Materials, with Stifel Nicolaus setting it at $609 and UBS Group raising it to $634, indicating strong market interest.
• The company's quarterly earnings report revealed $1.90 per share, surpassing estimates and marking an 8.2% year-over-year revenue growth, contributing to a Moderate Buy consensus rating from analysts.

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 4.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 290,506 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 12,819 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.48% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $138,900,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MLM. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 38.5% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 572 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 38,602 shares of the construction company's stock worth $19,938,000 after buying an additional 1,776 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 10,345 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $5,343,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $895,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 18,360 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $9,483,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company's stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:MLM traded down $0.84 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $574.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 228,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 479,574. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.09, a PEG ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $556.14 and a 200-day moving average of $525.95. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $441.95 and a 12-month high of $633.23. 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 (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.02. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 16.07% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.93 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued 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 dividend yield of 0.6%. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised Martin Marietta Materials from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $548.00 to $634.00 in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Monday, June 16th. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $515.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $559.00 to $609.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $597.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $576.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $605.93.

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.