Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Trims Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lessened its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,996 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 309 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $6,712,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 25,242 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $13,037,000 after purchasing an additional 3,384 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 8,220 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,914,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 431.3% during the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 2,391 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2,448.1% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 1,376 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,322 shares during the period. Finally, InTrack Investment Management Inc increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc now owns 3,446 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,784,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 1.3 %

MLM stock opened at $477.49 on Friday. 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 $448.50 and a 52 week high of $633.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $511.26 and a 200 day moving average of $539.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.11 billion, a PE ratio of 14.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is 9.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Martin Marietta Materials

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on MLM. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $559.00 target price on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $645.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $640.00 to $560.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $563.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $628.64.

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.