Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP Takes $1.44 Million Position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 2,758 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,435,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Martin Marietta Materials during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 91.9% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 71 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.04% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Martin Marietta Materials

In related news, EVP Donald A. Mccunniff sold 1,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.00, for a total transaction of $632,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,673,425. The trade was a 27.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Petro bought 550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $454.37 per share, for a total transaction of $249,903.50. Following the purchase, the senior vice president now owns 8,985 shares in the company, valued at $4,082,514.45. The trade was a 6.52 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.68% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Martin Marietta Materials from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Martin Marietta Materials in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $559.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $701.00 to $600.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $657.00 to $622.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $628.64.

Martin Marietta Materials Stock Performance

NYSE MLM opened at $485.04 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.00, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $508.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $538.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 2.50. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $448.50 and a fifty-two week high of $633.23.

Martin Marietta Materials (NYSE:MLM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The construction company reported $4.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.62 by $0.17. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.11% and a net margin of 30.54%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 19.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Martin Marietta Materials Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.77%.

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.