Soros Capital Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM

Key Points

• Soros Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials, buying 4,184 shares worth approximately $2,000,000 in the first quarter of the year.
• The company has recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.83 per share, which reflects an increase from the previous dividend of $0.79.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Martin Marietta Materials, with DA Davidson setting a new target at $700.00 while maintaining a "buy" rating.

Soros Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 4,184 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $2,000,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MLM. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,020 shares of the construction company's stock worth $527,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Net Worth Advisory Group increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.2% during the first quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group now owns 993 shares of the construction company's stock worth $475,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 4.9% during the first quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 452 shares of the construction company's stock worth $216,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 3.5% during the first quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 652 shares of the construction company's stock worth $312,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 448 shares of the construction company's stock worth $231,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MLM shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $548.00 to $634.00 in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $576.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $577.00 to $643.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $622.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Laree E. Perez sold 1,038 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $613.32, for a total transaction of $636,626.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 15,417 shares in the company, valued at $9,455,554.44. This trade represents a 6.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE MLM traded up $4.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $616.35. 368,630 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 451,771. The stock has a market cap of $37.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.18, a PEG ratio of 5.58 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $580.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $535.75. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $441.95 and a 1-year high of $633.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.21.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The construction company reported $5.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $5.44 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.81 billion for 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The firm 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 is an increase from Martin Marietta Materials's previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. 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. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio is 17.53%.

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.