Great Lakes Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM

Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 12,309 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,101,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MLM. CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 370.0% during the 2nd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 47 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 67.9% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 47 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Reflection Asset Management purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Martin Marietta Materials during the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MLM has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $700.00 to $680.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $616.00 to $581.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial set a $660.00 price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $668.53.

Martin Marietta Materials Price Performance

Shares of Martin Marietta Materials stock opened at $535.67 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a one year low of $522.19 and a one year high of $710.97. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $571.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $597.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.11.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The construction company reported $5.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.76 by $0.24. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 9.49% and a net margin of 36.73%.The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.43 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.07 EPS for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 1st. This is an increase from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.83. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.16%.

About Martin Marietta Materials

Martin Marietta Materials, Inc (NYSE: MLM) is a leading producer of aggregates and heavy building materials serving the construction and infrastructure markets. The company operates quarries, sand and gravel pits, and other extraction sites to supply crushed stone, sand and gravel, and a range of value‑added products for use in roads, bridges, commercial and residential construction, and other civil engineering projects.

In addition to its core aggregates business, Martin Marietta manufactures and sells asphalt, ready‑mixed concrete and related materials and services.