Wealthfront Advisers LLC Increases Stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 25.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,398 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,091 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC's holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $2,581,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,174,183 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $3,705,466,000 after purchasing an additional 36,531 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 6.6% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,940,423 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $927,775,000 after acquiring an additional 120,679 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 32,082 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 873,629 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $451,229,000 after purchasing an additional 44,680 shares during the period. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 771,198 shares of the construction company's stock worth $398,324,000 after purchasing an additional 245,000 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MLM. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $559.00 to $609.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Martin Marietta Materials to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $561.00 to $576.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $548.00 to $634.00 in a report on Friday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $603.86.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock traded up $11.92 during trading on Friday, hitting $565.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 407,634 shares, compared to its average volume of 474,915. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $441.95 and a 52 week high of $633.23. The stock has a market cap of $34.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.13 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $552.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $522.13.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 16.07% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.93 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

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

About Martin Marietta Materials

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.