Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Trims Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC decreased its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 12.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 475 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 70 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 225.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,833,959 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $752,803,000 after buying an additional 1,270,116 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter worth approximately $197,591,000. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 51.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 737,821 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $249,362,000 after purchasing an additional 251,047 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 9.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,042,537 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $838,421,000 after purchasing an additional 181,136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the second quarter worth approximately $792,790,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MLM shares. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $575.00 to $605.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Monday, January 8th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $595.00 price target for the company. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $600.00 price objective (up from $530.00) on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $564.85.

Insider Transactions at Martin Marietta Materials

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total transaction of $936,959.52. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,793 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,757,099.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total value of $936,959.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,757,099.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 value of $9,063,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 134,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $81,357,566.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 26,724 shares of company stock valued at $16,033,760. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

MLM opened at $613.94 on Friday. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $332.13 and a twelve month high of $617.08. The company has a current ratio of 3.35, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market cap of $37.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.60, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $558.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $489.53.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.67. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.72%.

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.