Cerity Partners LLC Buys 3,193 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 199.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,791 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 3,193 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $2,390,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Independence Bank of Kentucky boosted its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 152 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 460 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $228,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Spreng Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 775 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $387,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares in the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp increased its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 247 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 4,031 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,011,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MLM shares. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $505.00 to $555.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Monday, January 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $595.00 target price on the stock. HSBC raised shares of 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 research note on Thursday, February 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $600.00 price objective (up previously from $530.00) on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $621.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $588.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $603.29, for a total value of $6,032,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,970 shares in the company, valued at $36,179,301.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Martin Marietta Materials news, EVP Roselyn R. Bar sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,179,301.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total value of $9,063,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 134,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 worth $16,033,760 in the last ninety days. 0.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of MLM opened at $587.13 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $36.24 billion, a PE ratio of 31.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.96. 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 52-week low of $343.79 and a 52-week high of $626.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $586.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $508.75.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The construction company reported $4.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.04 earnings per share. Martin Marietta Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

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

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.