Rathbones Group PLC Sells 7,577 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Rathbones Group PLC trimmed its position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 205,252 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 7,577 shares during the quarter. Rathbones Group PLC owned about 0.34% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $106,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,174,183 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,705,466,000 after purchasing an additional 36,531 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,441,663,000 after acquiring an additional 506,705 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,819,744 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $939,898,000 after purchasing an additional 191,043 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,562,146 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $808,005,000 after buying an additional 148,065 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,472,411 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $758,499,000 after acquiring an additional 32,082 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on MLM shares. BNP Paribas downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wolfe Research upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $559.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $670.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $626.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 purchased at an average price of $454.37 per share, for a total transaction of $249,903.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 8,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,082,514.45. This trade represents a 6.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,523 shares in the company, valued at $1,673,425. This represents a 27.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE:MLM opened at $470.33 on Monday. 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 $430.00 and a 52-week high of $633.23. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $500.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $537.21. The stock has a market cap of $28.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.55, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.81.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.54% and a return on equity of 12.11%. Equities analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is currently 9.77%.

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.