Northern Trust Corp Increases Stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.5%, acquiring an additional 15,678 shares to own 633,472 shares worth $302.88 million.
• Martin Marietta Materials reported a Q2 earnings per share of $5.43, slightly missing analysts' estimates, alongside a revenue of $1.81 billion which was lower than predictions of $1.88 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.83 per share, payable on September 30, which reflects a new annualized dividend of $3.32 and a yield of 0.6%.

Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 633,472 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 15,678 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 1.05% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $302,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $235,000. Waverly Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 78.9% in the fourth quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 1,041 shares of the construction company's stock worth $538,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 65.5% in the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the construction company's stock worth $133,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.3% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,007 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,457,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 30.5% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 933 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $446,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MLM. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $525.00 target price (up from $515.00) on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. UBS Group upgraded 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 report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Bank of America boosted 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, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $622.63.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 1.0%

MLM traded up $6.2940 during trading on Friday, reaching $607.0340. The company had a trading volume of 363,773 shares, compared to its average volume of 433,691. The stock has a market cap of $36.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.67, a PEG ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $573.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $532.93. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $441.95 and a 52 week high of $633.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The construction company reported $5.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $5.44 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 11.88% and a net margin of 16.47%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.76 earnings per share. Martin Marietta Materials has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. This is an increase from Martin Marietta Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials's payout ratio is 17.53%.

Insider Activity at Martin Marietta Materials

In other news, Director Laree E. Perez sold 1,038 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $613.32, for a total transaction of $636,626.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 15,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,455,554.44. This trade represents a 6.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.69% of the company's stock.

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.