Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. $MLM Shares Sold by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 277,356 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 9,359 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 0.46% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $174,812,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 31.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,340,677 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,284,938,000 after purchasing an additional 565,856 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the second quarter worth about $233,811,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 9.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,204,425 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,389,428,000 after acquiring an additional 192,637 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 valued at $4,691,139,000 after acquiring an additional 93,595 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,825,325 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,550,990,000 after purchasing an additional 56,353 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MLM. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $637.00 to $681.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Stephens lowered their price target on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $740.00 to $735.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $630.00 target price on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $670.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $695.63.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of MLM opened at $677.00 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $656.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $631.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.16. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $441.95 and a 1-year high of $710.97. The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 2.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The construction company reported $4.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.81 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.66 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 17.38% and a return on equity of 10.86%. Martin Marietta Materials’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.79 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.83 per share. This represents a $3.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.66%.

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.