Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM Shares Sold by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. cut its position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 498,333 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 7,733 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.83% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $310,292,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,442,945 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,691,139,000 after buying an additional 93,595 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 1.1% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,365,832 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,491,136,000 after buying an additional 25,155 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,553,364 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $963,406,000 after buying an additional 10,743 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 690,128 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $429,715,000 after buying an additional 5,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $354,681,000. 95.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MLM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Citigroup lowered their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $804.00 to $731.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group set a $739.00 target price on Martin Marietta Materials in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $702.00 to $664.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $681.94.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of MLM stock opened at $572.41 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $34.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $590.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $619.76. The company has a current ratio of 2.28, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 12-month low of $525.38 and a 12-month high of $710.97.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The construction company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.31 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 10.27% and a net margin of 38.67%.Martin Marietta Materials’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.90 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st will be given a $0.83 dividend. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 1st. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.91%.

Martin Marietta Materials Profile

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.