Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) Shares Sold by Confluence Investment Management LLC

Confluence Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 62,668 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,541 shares during the quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $32,368,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the third quarter valued at approximately $734,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 worth $741,000 after purchasing an additional 1,322 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 12,936 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,963,000 after purchasing an additional 1,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 158.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 43,952 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $23,657,000 after buying an additional 26,929 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MLM. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased 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. HSBC raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $690.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays increased their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $653.08.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

MLM stock traded down $2.73 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $513.77. 52,545 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 443,312. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $573.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $553.07. The company has a market cap of $31.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.89. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $479.67 and a one year high of $633.23. 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 (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.94 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.