Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Reduces Holdings in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS trimmed its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 46,632 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 3,217 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $25,100,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 76.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $876,648,000 after purchasing an additional 704,460 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 114.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 980,699 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $602,092,000 after purchasing an additional 523,038 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 623,681 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $337,903,000 after acquiring an additional 12,759 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 465,703 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $252,318,000 after purchasing an additional 11,749 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.0% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 374,811 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $203,073,000 after buying an additional 3,598 shares in the last quarter. 95.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

MLM traded up $0.32 on Thursday, hitting $617.63. 32,959 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 446,252. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $545.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $556.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.34, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $444.14 and a one year high of $633.23. The firm has a market cap of $37.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.90.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.94 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.95 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This is an increase from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is 9.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $658.00 to $646.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $560.00 to $515.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $610.00 to $657.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $634.85.

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.