Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 704,460 Shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) by 76.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,628,701 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 704,460 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 2.66% of Martin Marietta Materials worth $876,648,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Martin Marietta Materials by 114.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 980,699 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $602,092,000 after acquiring an additional 523,038 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 623,681 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $337,903,000 after purchasing an additional 12,759 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Martin Marietta Materials by 2.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 465,703 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $252,318,000 after purchasing an additional 11,749 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Martin Marietta Materials by 1.0% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 374,811 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $203,073,000 after buying an additional 3,598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. increased its holdings in Martin Marietta Materials by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 253,178 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $136,273,000 after buying an additional 1,242 shares during the period. 95.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MLM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Martin Marietta Materials from $650.00 to $635.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Martin Marietta Materials from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Martin Marietta Materials from $658.00 to $646.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Martin Marietta Materials from $560.00 to $515.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price objective on Martin Marietta Materials from $600.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Martin Marietta Materials currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $634.85.

Martin Marietta Materials Trading Up 6.0 %

Shares of NYSE MLM opened at $617.31 on Thursday. Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.36 and a 1-year high of $633.23. The company has a 50-day moving average of $545.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $556.16. The company has a market cap of $37.73 billion, a PE ratio of 19.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.90. 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 (NYSE:MLM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The construction company reported $5.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.41 by ($0.50). The company had revenue of $1.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Martin Marietta Materials had a return on equity of 12.53% and a net margin of 30.47%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. will post 17.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Martin Marietta Materials Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 3rd were issued a $0.79 dividend. This is a boost from Martin Marietta Materials’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Martin Marietta Materials’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.85%.

Martin Marietta Materials Company 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.