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

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 136,426 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 544 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $70,464,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,441,663,000 after buying an additional 506,705 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,353,936,000 after acquiring an additional 334,605 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $876,648,000 after acquiring an additional 704,460 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 534,801 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $295,397,000 after purchasing an additional 9,908 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MLM. HSBC raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Raymond James decreased their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $640.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $648.71.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $538.38 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $540.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $550.16. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $490.05 and a 12 month high of $633.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.91 billion, a PE ratio of 16.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.91.

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.