Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 5,392 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Prudential Financial Inc. cut its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 14.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 32,664 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 5,392 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $16,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MLM. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.5% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 782 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 1,336 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $690,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 570 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 447 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% in the third quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 1,123 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $604,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Hsbc Global Res raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. HSBC raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $670.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $640.00 to $560.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $628.64.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $485.04 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.00, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $508.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $538.54. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52 week low of $448.50 and a 52 week high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.11% and a net margin of 30.54%. As a group, analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 9.77%.

Insider Activity at Martin Marietta Materials

In other news, SVP Michael J. Petro acquired 550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $454.37 per share, with a total value of $249,903.50. Following the acquisition, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,082,514.45. The trade was a 6.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total transaction of $632,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,673,425. This trade represents a 27.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.68% 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.