Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Cuts Stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Key Points

• Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp sold 41,673 shares of Martin Marietta Materials, reducing its stake by 23.8%, leaving it with approximately 0.22% ownership valued at $63.84 million.
• Analysts have mixed views on Martin Marietta, with upgrades from some firms raising price targets significantly, while others downgraded their ratings; the overall consensus remains a "Moderate Buy" with a price target of $605.93.
• Martin Marietta recently reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.90, slightly beating analysts' expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.79, yielding 0.5% annually.

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp cut its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 23.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 133,511 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 41,673 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned 0.22% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $63,836,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 1st quarter worth $40,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 193.9% in the 1st quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 97 shares of the construction company's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter worth $46,000. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 2.0%

MLM stock traded up $11.88 during trading on Thursday, hitting $609.92. 98,803 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 480,540. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.92, a PEG ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $559.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $527.77. 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 1 year low of $441.95 and a 1 year high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The construction company reported $5.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.44 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.88 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 16.07% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.76 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials's payout ratio is currently 18.20%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MLM. Bank of America upped their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $577.00 to $643.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $576.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased 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 increased their price target for the stock from $548.00 to $634.00 in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $611.73.

Martin Marietta Materials Company Profile

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.