Renaissance Investment Group LLC Sells 2,870 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM

Renaissance Investment Group LLC lessened its stake in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 18.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,357 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 2,870 shares during the period. Martin Marietta Materials comprises about 1.6% of Renaissance Investment Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Renaissance Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $7,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 31.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,340,677 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,284,938,000 after purchasing an additional 565,856 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials during the second quarter worth $233,811,000. Amundi raised its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 9.2% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 1,706,416 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $827,345,000 after buying an additional 144,270 shares during the last quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 111.5% in the first quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 191,575 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $91,598,000 after buying an additional 100,975 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 2,500.0% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 102,882 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $49,191,000 after buying an additional 98,925 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

MLM opened at $629.43 on Wednesday. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1 year low of $441.95 and a 1 year high of $665.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 2.97 and a quick ratio of 2.07. The company has a market capitalization of $37.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.18 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $619.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $597.81.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The construction company reported $5.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.62 by ($0.65). Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 17.34% and a return on equity of 11.68%. The firm had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.06 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be paid a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s payout ratio is presently 17.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $670.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $637.00 to $681.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Wall Street Zen cut Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $725.00 to $730.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.31.

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.