Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 14.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,371 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,817 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $7,170,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amalgamated Bank increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.5% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 16,460 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,757,000 after buying an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 166.1% during the fourth quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 2,725 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,360,000 after buying an additional 1,701 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,284,000. Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,260,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.8% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,050 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,681,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total value of $6,032,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,179,301.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Martin Marietta Materials news, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 134,640 shares in the company, valued at $81,357,566.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total transaction of $6,032,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,179,301.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,724 shares of company stock worth $16,033,760 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on MLM. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $575.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $621.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $588.69.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 1.0 %

MLM stock opened at $587.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 3.35 and a quick ratio of 2.50. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $343.79 and a 12 month high of $626.67. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $586.40 and its 200 day moving average is $508.75. The company has a market capitalization of $36.24 billion, a PE ratio of 31.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.96.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The construction company reported $4.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.04 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.23 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.72%.

Martin Marietta Materials Profile

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.