Geode Capital Management LLC Sells 80,834 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Geode Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 5.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,440,329 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 80,834 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $772,589,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MLM. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,515,441 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,353,936,000 after acquiring an additional 334,605 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 7,608.2% during the 3rd 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 period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 54.2% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 467,782 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $251,784,000 after acquiring an additional 164,503 shares during the period. 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 acquiring an additional 106,002 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MLM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $515.00 to $640.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. BNP Paribas upgraded Martin Marietta Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $655.77.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

NYSE:MLM opened at $560.43 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $577.91 and its 200 day moving average is $555.96. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $474.92 and a fifty-two week high of $633.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.25 billion, a PE ratio of 17.46, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.34.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.94 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

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