Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 1,856 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 34.1% in the first quarter, now holding 3,589 shares worth approximately $1.72 million.
• Several analysts have issued new price targets, with UBS Group upgrading the stock from "neutral" to "buy" and raising the target price from $548 to $634.
• Martin Marietta Materials recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.79, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.54% and a payout ratio of 18.20%.

Pacer Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 34.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,589 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 1,856 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $1,716,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently 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 4th quarter worth about $235,000. Waverly Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 78.9% in the 4th 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 position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 65.5% in the 1st 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 position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.3% in the 1st 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. increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 30.5% in the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 933 shares of the construction company's stock worth $446,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company's stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of MLM traded up $2.27 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $577.15. The stock had a trading volume of 393,100 shares, compared to its average volume of 327,666. The company's fifty day moving average is $556.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $526.36. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $441.95 and a 52 week high of $633.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.25, a P/E/G ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 0.89.

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 for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued 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 yield of 0.5%. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio is currently 18.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial decreased their price target 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. 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 note on Monday, July 28th. 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. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Monday, June 16th. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $515.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $548.00 to $634.00 in a research report on Friday, May 16th. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $605.93.

Martin Marietta Materials 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.