Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 3,700 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,846,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amalgamated Bank raised its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.5% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 16,460 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,757,000 after buying an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 166.1% during the fourth quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 2,725 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,701 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the third quarter worth approximately $3,284,000. Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,260,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.8% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,050 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,681,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE MLM opened at $587.13 on Friday. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a twelve month low of $343.79 and a twelve month high of $626.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 2.50 and a current ratio of 3.35. The stock has a market cap of $36.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.18, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $586.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $508.75.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The construction company reported $4.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.67. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 17.25% and a return on equity of 15.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.04 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.23 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Martin Marietta Materials

In other Martin Marietta Materials news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of Martin Marietta Materials 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 completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total value of $6,032,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 59,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,179,301.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of Martin Marietta Materials 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,757,099.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,724 shares of company stock valued at $16,033,760 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MLM shares. StockNews.com cut Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $635.00 to $708.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $595.00 price target on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $588.69.

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.