Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Lowers Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 52.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,611 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 2,906 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Martin Marietta Materials were worth $1,349,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 77.1% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 2,353 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,275,000 after buying an additional 1,024 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 51,025 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $27,684,000 after acquiring an additional 1,218 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 60.2% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 11,820 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $6,404,000 after acquiring an additional 4,441 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 18.3% in the 2nd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,113 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $615,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 18.1% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 19,908 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $10,064,000 after purchasing an additional 3,047 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MLM opened at $548.40 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $550.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $551.37. The stock has a market cap of $33.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.09, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.91. 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 12 month low of $490.05 and a 12 month high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.41 by ($0.50). The business had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a net margin of 30.47% and a return on equity of 12.53%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.94 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on MLM shares. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Thursday, November 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $730.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Hsbc Global Res raised Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $595.00 to $645.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Martin Marietta Materials presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $648.71.

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.