Clarius Group LLC Has $266,000 Stock Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Clarius Group LLC lowered its position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 533 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 16,460 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,757,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 3rd quarter worth about $3,284,000. Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new position in Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,260,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,050 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,681,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fenimore Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $23,468,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MLM. HSBC upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $376.00 to $543.00 in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $575.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $510.00 to $598.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 19th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $635.00 to $708.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $577.38.

Insider Activity

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total transaction of $936,959.52. Following the sale, the director now owns 19,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,757,099.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total transaction of $936,959.52. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 19,793 shares in the company, valued at $10,757,099.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total transaction of $9,063,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 134,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $81,357,566.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 26,724 shares of company stock valued at $16,033,760 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.59% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Down 0.8 %

Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $602.11 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $580.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $504.35. The company has a quick ratio of 2.50, a current ratio of 3.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $343.71 and a twelve month high of $626.67. The company has a market capitalization of $37.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.96.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The construction company reported $4.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.67. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 15.77% and a net margin of 17.25%. Martin Marietta Materials’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.09 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 1st. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is 15.72%.

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.