Twin Capital Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Twin Capital Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,688 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 47 shares during the quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $842,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 67,023 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $33,438,000 after buying an additional 10,347 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1,666.7% in the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 106 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 14,371 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $7,170,000 after buying an additional 1,817 shares during the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 407.7% in the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 264 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $132,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 11,745 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $5,860,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MLM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup upped their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $635.00 to $708.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $642.00 to $737.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. HSBC raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $376.00 to $543.00 in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wolfe Research cut Martin Marietta Materials from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $621.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $588.69.

Insider Activity at Martin Marietta Materials

In related news, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total value of $936,959.52. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,757,099.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO C Howard Nye sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $604.26, for a total value of $9,063,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 134,640 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $81,357,566.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Sue W. Cole sold 1,724 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $543.48, for a total value of $936,959.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,757,099.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,724 shares of company stock valued at $16,033,760. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $576.12 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $587.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $509.94. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12 month low of $343.79 and a 12 month high of $626.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.60, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 3.35 and a quick ratio of 2.50.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The construction company reported $4.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.67. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 15.77% and a net margin of 17.25%. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.04 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 21.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Monday, March 4th were issued 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 0.51%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.