Public Sector Pension Investment Board Grows Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 35.6%, owning 121,086 shares worth approximately $57.9 million.
• Wall Street analysts are optimistic about Martin Marietta Materials, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $615.60.
• The company reported a quarterly EPS of $5.43, slightly missing consensus estimates, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 2.7% to $1.81 billion.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 35.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 121,086 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 31,760 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned approximately 0.20% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $57,895,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MLM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,342,358 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $3,510,602,000 after buying an additional 168,175 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 10.1% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,944,694 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $1,407,947,000 after acquiring an additional 268,928 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,940,423 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $927,775,000 after acquiring an additional 120,679 shares during the last quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 46.6% in the 4th quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 771,198 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $398,324,000 after acquiring an additional 245,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 58,570.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 697,592 shares of the construction company's stock worth $333,540,000 after purchasing an additional 696,403 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MLM. UBS Group raised Martin Marietta Materials from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $548.00 to $634.00 in a report on Friday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $609.00 to $637.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. DA Davidson increased their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $625.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $576.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Raymond James Financial increased their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $622.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE MLM traded down $6.90 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $613.18. 365,019 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 483,851. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $441.95 and a 12 month high of $633.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $565.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $529.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market cap of $36.98 billion, a PE ratio of 34.01, a PEG ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.89.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 11.88% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.76 earnings per share. Martin Marietta Materials's revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

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.