iA Global Asset Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 570 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $307,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% during the 3rd 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. FMR LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $1,353,936,000 after acquiring an additional 334,605 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 7,608.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 179,020 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 467,782 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $251,784,000 after purchasing an additional 164,503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 247.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 148,827 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $80,634,000 after purchasing an additional 106,002 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MLM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. BNP Paribas upgraded Martin Marietta Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $730.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $644.46.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

NYSE:MLM opened at $563.45 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $577.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $555.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $468.48 and a 12-month high of $633.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.89.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.41 by ($0.50). Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.47% and a return on equity of 12.53%. The company had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.94 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is currently 9.85%.

Martin Marietta Materials 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.