Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Reduces Stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 134,796 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 1,630 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.22% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $64,450,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 91.9% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the construction company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Bellwether Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Martin Marietta Materials stock traded up $1.22 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $558.90. 319,445 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 483,651. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $441.95 and a fifty-two week high of $633.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.69 billion, a PE ratio of 32.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $544.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $519.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 2.25.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.02. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 16.07% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.93 EPS. The business's revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials's payout ratio is presently 18.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MLM shares. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Martin Marietta Materials to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $597.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Stifel Nicolaus upped 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. UBS Group raised shares of 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 research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $640.00 to $560.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $603.86.

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.