Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM Shares Purchased by National Pension Service

National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 6.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 95,221 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 5,739 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $54,914,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 370.0% in the second quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 47 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 67.9% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 47 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Reflection Asset Management acquired a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MLM stock opened at $510.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.54, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.10. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $491.61 and a one year high of $710.97. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $544.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $579.58.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The construction company reported $5.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.76 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 9.49% and a net margin of 36.73%.Martin Marietta Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.43 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MLM. Raymond James Financial set a $660.00 target price on Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Thursday, May 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Stephens dropped their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Martin Marietta Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $581.00 to $609.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $667.53.

Martin Marietta Materials Profile

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc is a U.S.-based supplier of construction aggregates and other building materials. The company produces crushed stone, sand and gravel used in infrastructure, commercial, residential and industrial construction projects.

Its products and services also include cement, ready-mixed concrete, asphalt and paving materials. Martin Marietta serves customers involved in roads, bridges, airports, buildings and other essential infrastructure, with operations concentrated across several regions of the United States.

The company was established in 1993 as an independent, publicly traded materials business formed from the construction materials operations of Martin Marietta Corporation.