Empirical Finance LLC Has $1.16 Million Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 2.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,145 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $1,155,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MLM. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $876,648,000 after buying an additional 704,460 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 114.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 980,699 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $602,092,000 after acquiring an additional 523,038 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 623,681 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $337,903,000 after acquiring an additional 12,759 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 467,782 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $251,784,000 after acquiring an additional 164,503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 465,703 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $252,318,000 after purchasing an additional 11,749 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MLM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Stephens dropped their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. BNP Paribas upgraded Martin Marietta Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $658.00 to $646.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.85.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

MLM stock opened at $583.03 on Friday. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $451.37 and a 1-year high of $633.23. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $557.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $556.88. The firm has a market cap of $35.63 billion, a PE ratio of 18.17, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.41 by ($0.50). Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.47% and a return on equity of 12.53%. The business had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.94 earnings per share. Martin Marietta Materials’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 9.85%.

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.