Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Decreases Stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. decreased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 664 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 80 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.2% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 7,900 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,243,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 9.9% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 6,834 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,805,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 338.4% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 46,509 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $19,091,000 after buying an additional 35,900 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 0.8% in the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 7,765 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,187,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 3,969 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MLM shares. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $635.00 to $708.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $621.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $642.00 to $737.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $588.69.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 0.6 %

MLM stock opened at $590.86 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $596.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $520.00. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $361.33 and a 52 week high of $626.67. The company has a current ratio of 3.16, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company has a market cap of $36.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.95.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.05. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 31.35%. The company had revenue of $1.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.16 earnings per share. Martin Marietta Materials’s quarterly revenue was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is currently 8.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Martin Marietta Materials

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total transaction of $9,063,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 134,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $81,357,566.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total value of $6,032,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,970 shares in the company, valued at $36,179,301.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total transaction of $9,063,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 134,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $81,357,566.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,724 shares of company stock valued at $16,033,760 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

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.