Legal & General Group Plc Invests $143.90 Million in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 249,518 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $143,897,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 370.0% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 67.9% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 47 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Reflection Asset Management acquired a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

MLM stock opened at $528.56 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.99, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $564.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $591.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.41. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $522.19 and a 52-week high of $710.97.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The construction company reported $5.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.76 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.07 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a $0.84 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This is a positive change from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is currently 8.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on MLM shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $616.00 to $581.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 31st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $737.00 to $690.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Truist Financial upped their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $710.00 to $730.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $665.29.

Martin Marietta Materials Profile

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc (NYSE: MLM) is a leading producer of aggregates and heavy building materials serving the construction and infrastructure markets. The company operates quarries, sand and gravel pits, and other extraction sites to supply crushed stone, sand and gravel, and a range of value‑added products for use in roads, bridges, commercial and residential construction, and other civil engineering projects.

In addition to its core aggregates business, Martin Marietta manufactures and sells asphalt, ready‑mixed concrete and related materials and services.