Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Shares Acquired by Gilbert & Cook Inc.

Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,930 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Gilbert & Cook Inc.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $997,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 506,705 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,353,936,000 after purchasing an additional 334,605 shares during the period. 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 buying an additional 704,460 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 534,801 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $295,397,000 after buying an additional 9,908 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised 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 buying an additional 164,503 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MLM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. BNP Paribas lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of 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 research 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $648.71.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE MLM traded up $4.01 during trading on Thursday, reaching $543.85. 10,641 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 337,149. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.24 billion, a PE ratio of 16.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.91. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $490.05 and a fifty-two week high of $633.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $548.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $551.33.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.41 by ($0.50). The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.47% and a return on equity of 12.53%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.57 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 9.85%.

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.