Ameriprise Financial Inc. Boosts Stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM - Free Report) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 125,554 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,820 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.21% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $64,849,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.5% during 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. lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% during 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. lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 11.7% during 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 lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 10.5% during 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 lifted its holdings 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 worth $758,499,000 after acquiring an additional 32,082 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on MLM shares. UBS Group lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $491.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Martin Marietta Materials from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $640.00 to $560.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays reduced their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $615.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $599.69.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

MLM stock traded up $7.87 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $548.89. 119,609 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 485,050. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $494.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $528.96. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $441.95 and a 12 month high of $633.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.98, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.02. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.11% and a net margin of 30.54%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.93 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.20%.

Insider Activity

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, SVP Michael J. Petro purchased 550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $454.37 per share, with a total value of $249,903.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,985 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,082,514.45. This trade represents a 6.52% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total value of $632,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,523 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,673,425. The trade was a 27.44% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.