Renaissance Investment Group LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Key Points

• Renaissance Investment Group LLC reduced its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 9.4%, selling 1,643 shares to hold a total of 15,846 shares valued at approximately $7.6 million.
• Martin Marietta Materials reported a Q1 earnings per share of $1.90, slightly above analyst expectations, with a revenue of $1.35 billion, marking an 8.2% increase year-over-year.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.79, representing an annual yield of 0.55%, with a payout ratio of 18.20%.

Renaissance Investment Group LLC reduced its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 9.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,846 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 1,643 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC's holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $7,576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,940,423 shares of the construction company's stock worth $927,775,000 after purchasing an additional 120,679 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,472,411 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $758,499,000 after acquiring an additional 32,082 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 873,629 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $451,229,000 after acquiring an additional 44,680 shares during the period. Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew 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 valued at $333,540,000 after acquiring an additional 696,403 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

NYSE MLM traded down $0.47 on Friday, reaching $574.41. The stock had a trading volume of 228,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 479,574. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 2.25. The business's 50-day moving average price is $556.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $525.95. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $441.95 and a 12-month high of $633.23. The stock has a market cap of $34.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 0.87.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 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 the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.93 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.20%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MLM shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target 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 note on Monday, June 16th. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $515.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $576.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 31st. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $548.00 to $634.00 in a report on Friday, May 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials 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.