JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 2,659 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,675,766 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 2,659 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 4.38% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $1,382,034,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MLM. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $474,370,000 after buying an additional 916,743 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 704,460 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth $196,374,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 7,608.2% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 181,373 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $97,624,000 after acquiring an additional 179,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,562,146 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $808,005,000 after purchasing an additional 148,065 shares during the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on MLM. BNP Paribas cut shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $640.00 to $560.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on 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 Global Res raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $628.64.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $485.04 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 52-week low of $448.50 and a 52-week high of $633.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.50. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $508.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $538.54.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share (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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is currently 9.77%.

Insider Activity

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

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.