Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Lowers Stock Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 32.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,379 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 1,148 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA's holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $1,137,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MLM. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 8,305 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $4,290,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 13,383 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $6,912,000 after purchasing an additional 862 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 38.5% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 572 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 850 shares of the construction company's stock worth $439,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MLM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $559.00 to $609.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $548.00 to $634.00 in a report on Friday, May 16th. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on 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 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 assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $603.86.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

NYSE:MLM traded up $0.83 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $575.58. 51,697 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 483,810. The business has a 50 day moving average of $554.12 and a 200 day moving average of $523.24. The company has a market capitalization of $34.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.14, a P/E/G ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 0.87. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $441.95 and a 1-year high of $633.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

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

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. 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 0.55%. 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.