Royal Bank of Canada Buys 31,291 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 19.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 196,410 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 31,291 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.32% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $101,447,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,174,183 shares of the construction company's stock worth $3,705,466,000 after acquiring an additional 36,531 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company's stock worth $1,441,663,000 after acquiring an additional 506,705 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,819,744 shares of the construction company's stock worth $939,898,000 after acquiring an additional 191,043 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,562,146 shares of the construction company's stock worth $808,005,000 after acquiring an additional 148,065 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,472,411 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $758,499,000 after buying an additional 32,082 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MLM shares. Stephens decreased their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $640.00 to $560.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Martin Marietta Materials to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $610.69.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 0.8%

Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $568.38 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.58, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $441.95 and a 1-year high of $633.23. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $501.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $527.68.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.36 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.11% and a net margin of 30.54%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. Martin Marietta Materials's payout ratio is presently 18.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Martin Marietta Materials

In other news, SVP Michael J. Petro purchased 550 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $454.37 per share, for a total transaction of $249,903.50. Following the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 8,985 shares in the company, valued at $4,082,514.45. This trade represents a 6.52% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total value of $632,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,673,425. The trade was a 27.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company 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.

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