National Pension Service Sells 4,268 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

National Pension Service lessened its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 70,247 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 4,268 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $36,283,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MLM. First Personal Financial Services bought a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $483.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market cap of $29.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $526.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $545.66. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $475.10 and a fifty-two week high of $633.23.

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

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on MLM. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $680.00 to $645.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. HSBC upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $639.43.

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.