Sapient Capital LLC Takes $15.10 Million Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 30,263 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,099,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 144.4% during the 3rd quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 66 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 78.8% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 59 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 84.6% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 72 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MLM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research lowered Martin Marietta Materials from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $621.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $642.00 to $737.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $588.69.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MLM traded up $1.07 during trading on Friday, reaching $591.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 491,967 shares, compared to its average volume of 472,357. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $598.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $522.18. The company has a current ratio of 3.16, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $384.61 and a 12 month high of $626.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.43 billion, a PE ratio of 17.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.95.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.88 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.31 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 31.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.16 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.77%.

Insider Transactions at Martin Marietta Materials

In related news, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total transaction of $6,032,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,179,301.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total transaction of $9,063,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 59,970 shares in the company, valued at $36,179,301.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 26,724 shares of company stock worth $16,033,760. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Martin Marietta Materials Company 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.