Cannell & Spears LLC Sells 173 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Cannell & Spears LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 15.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 971 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 173 shares during the quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $502,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MLM. Summit Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 731 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $378,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 448 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $231,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 6,246 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,226,000 after purchasing an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter worth $3,403,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 284,887 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $147,144,000 after purchasing an additional 4,253 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $484.47 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $29.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.99, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. 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 twelve month low of $448.50 and a twelve month high of $633.23. The company’s fifty day moving average is $504.37 and its 200 day moving average is $538.26.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.77%.

Insider Activity

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, SVP Michael J. Petro purchased 550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $454.37 per share, with a total value of $249,903.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 8,985 shares in the company, valued at $4,082,514.45. This represents a 6.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total transaction of $632,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,673,425. This trade represents a 27.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on MLM shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. 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 for the company. HSBC upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Stephens dropped their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $626.50.

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.