Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC Cuts Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 25.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 422 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 144 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $876,648,000 after buying an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 615 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $331,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the 3rd quarter worth $269,000. Patron Partners LLC grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 535 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 136,970 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $73,724,000 after buying an additional 2,066 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MLM stock opened at $464.59 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $28.33 billion, a PE ratio of 14.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $516.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $542.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $448.50 and a 52-week high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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, equities analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is 9.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $559.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James lowered their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $630.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $680.00 to $645.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.36.

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.