Twin Capital Management Inc. Cuts Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Twin Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,688 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 47 shares during the period. Twin Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $842,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MLM. Independence Bank of Kentucky raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 152 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 460 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $228,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Spreng Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 775 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $387,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 247 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,260 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $629,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MLM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. HSBC raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $376.00 to $543.00 in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $642.00 to $737.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $621.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $595.00 price target on the stock. Four investment 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $588.69.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:MLM opened at $576.12 on Friday. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $343.79 and a 52-week high of $626.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $587.38 and a 200 day moving average of $509.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.56 billion, a PE ratio of 30.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a current ratio of 3.35.

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

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is 15.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Martin Marietta Materials

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total transaction of $936,959.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,793 shares in the company, valued at $10,757,099.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Martin Marietta Materials news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total transaction of $936,959.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,793 shares in the company, valued at $10,757,099.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total transaction of $9,063,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 134,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $81,357,566.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,724 shares of company stock worth $16,033,760 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.61% 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.