Verus Capital Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Verus Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 400 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 54,277.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 918,432 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $474,370,000 after acquiring an additional 916,743 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $876,648,000 after buying an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 23.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,678,425 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,441,663,000 after buying an additional 506,705 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,353,936,000 after buying an additional 334,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 7,608.2% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 181,373 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $97,624,000 after buying an additional 179,020 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of MLM stock opened at $483.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market cap of $29.45 billion, a PE ratio of 14.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50-day moving average of $525.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $545.37. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $475.10 and a 1-year high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 30.54% and a return on equity of 12.11%. On average, analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $670.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $639.43.

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.