Royal Bank of Canada Decreases Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada reduced its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 18.8%, now holding 159,412 shares valued at approximately $76.22 million.
• Analysts have increased their price targets for Martin Marietta Materials, with recommendations ranging from buy to outperform, suggesting strong market confidence in the company.
• Martin Marietta recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, up from the previous $0.79, reflecting a commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Royal Bank of Canada lessened its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 18.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 159,412 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 36,998 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.26% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $76,220,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 696,403 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1,880.3% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 369,382 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $176,613,000 after acquiring an additional 350,729 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 10.1% during the 1st 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 during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 39.2% during the 1st quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 659,363 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $315,261,000 after acquiring an additional 185,731 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,342,358 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $3,510,602,000 after acquiring an additional 168,175 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MLM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on shares of 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 shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $525.00 price objective (up from $515.00) on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Bank of America upped their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $577.00 to $643.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $700.00 target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $622.63.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 0.6%

MLM traded up $3.79 during trading on Friday, hitting $622.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 311,202 shares, compared to its average volume of 389,811. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $587.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $538.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $37.56 billion, a PE ratio of 34.54, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 0.94. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $441.95 and a twelve month high of $633.23.

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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.44 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 11.88%. The company's revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.76 earnings per share. Martin Marietta Materials has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. This is a positive change from Martin Marietta Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. Martin Marietta Materials's payout ratio is currently 18.41%.

Insider Activity at Martin Marietta Materials

In other news, Director Laree E. Perez sold 1,038 shares of the company'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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 15,417 shares in the company, valued at $9,455,554.44. This represents a 6.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.