Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Buys Shares of 5,014 Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 5,014 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,590,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MLM. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 91.9% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $615.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. 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 on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $609.43.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

MLM stock opened at $459.19 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $28.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.20, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.81. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $498.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $536.58. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $444.91 and a 12-month high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is 9.77%.

Insider Transactions at Martin Marietta Materials

In other news, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total transaction of $632,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,673,425. This represents a 27.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Michael J. Petro bought 550 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 trade represents a 6.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

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.