Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC Has $1.17 Million Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 171.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,260 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,428 shares during the quarter. Martin Marietta Materials accounts for approximately 0.3% of Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $1,167,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 91.9% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on MLM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $515.00 to $640.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. HSBC raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $559.00 price target for the company. Finally, Raymond James cut their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One equities 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $634.36.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MLM stock opened at $478.12 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $514.06 and its 200 day moving average is $540.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.79, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $448.50 and a 12 month high of $633.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

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

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is presently 9.77%.

Insider Activity

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

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.