Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 25.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 683 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 239 shares during the quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $341,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MLM. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 1st quarter valued at about $46,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 391,276 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $150,599,000 after acquiring an additional 15,163 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 9,391 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,615,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the 1st quarter worth approximately $456,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 950 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $366,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE MLM opened at $587.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a current ratio of 3.35. The company has a market capitalization of $36.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.96. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $343.79 and a one year high of $626.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $586.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $508.75.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The construction company reported $4.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.67. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.62 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 15.77% and a net margin of 17.25%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.04 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.72%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total transaction of $9,063,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 134,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $81,357,566.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total value of $9,063,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 134,640 shares in the company, valued at $81,357,566.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total value of $6,032,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 59,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,179,301.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 26,724 shares of company stock worth $16,033,760. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $621.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $635.00 to $708.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $588.69.

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.